Background and objective: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is very a well-documented nosocomial and opportunistic microorganism, a little challenge is being present with the identification of such pathogen. This study aimed to identify Pseudomonas on genus and species levels by conventional PCR and determine multi-drug resistant isolates. Methods: A total of 180 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas species were recovered from in and outpatients who attended Azadi and Rezgari Teaching hospitals in Duhok and Erbil city from October 2015 to May 2016. These isolates were phenotypically identified using standard microbiological procedures. A total of 100 isolates were randomly selected and confirmed at a molecular level as Pseudomonas spp. Results: By applying genus-specific gyr B2 primer which produced1130bp amplification band and sixty-eight isolates were identified by PCR as P. aueroginosa using species-specific primer for 16S rRNA region which showed 956bpamplicon. Forty-six isolates out of the sixty-eight resembling Pseudomonas aeruginosa were diagnosed as being multi-drug resistant isolates by the disc diffusion method. Conclusion: It can be concluded that multi-drug resistant isolates can pose a serious threat for the hospital-resident patients as increasing numbers of these isolates are being recorded in local settings.

(TEM) resistance gene. Results: Half of the cases involved were found to be caused by MRSA. All the tested isolates showed positive amplification bands for the presence of mec A gene and only 48.8% of these harbored TEM gene. The obtained results revealed high sensitivity of universal bacterial and TEM primers expressed as 97.6% and 100% respectively, while the sensitivity of mec A primer was limited to 60%. Conclusion:The phenotypic identification of MRSA revealed a higher incidence rate and that different molecular techniques can yield conflicting results and it can also be concluded that resistant due to beta-lactamase production can be a crucial factor added to the previously settled methicillin resistant due to mec A gene.

Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) is an opportunistic pathogen and one of the most importnat Multidrug resistant microorganisms responsible for a vast array of nosocomial infections. 41 (6.8 %) isolates of A.  baumannii were obtained from a total of 603 clinical samples of burn and sputum during the period from March 2018 to February 2019. Twenty two isolates (3.6%) of A. baummanni were recovered from burn infections and nineteen isolates (3.2%) from sputum specimens. Identification and characterization of these isolates was accomplished by the aid of selective media (CHROM agar Acinetobacter) and was finally confirmed by VITEK 2 identification system test. Molecular identification utilizing genus and species-specific primers to detect the 16S rRNA and blaOXA-51 was also applied.  The Antibiotic resistance testing was done by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, 24 .4% of the isolates were Multi-Drug Resistance (MDR), while 65.9% were extensive drug resistance (XDR). All isolates  were absolutely resistant (100 %) to most of the antibiotics in use: cefixime, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, piperacillin-tazobactam, amoxicillin-tazobactam, while the resistant profile for the other antibiotics can be represented as follows 98 %, 95 %, 90 %, and 83 % For both ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin, gentamycin and meropenem, amikacin, and azithromycin and imipenem, respectively. On the other hand, levofloxacin has a moderate effect on the isolates shown by 51% resistant isolates followed by doxycycline for which 39% of the isolates were resistant. Colistin was the only antimicrobial agent that has an intense effect as the majority of the isolates were sensitive. All the selected isolates of A. baumannii were successfuly produced band corresponded to the intended genes. Accurate and early detection of such bacteria is essential for stimulates effective treatment specifically in intensive care units. Molecular techniques have been successfully applied with high specificity using 16S rRNA and blaOXA-51-like gene as a simple and reliable method to differentiate  A. baumannii strains.

In the current study, 225 isolates of P. aeruginosaburn infection have been collected from major hospitals in Duhok and Erbil / Iraq, from April 2015 till to September 2015. One hundred thirty six of these were isolated from males accounting 60.4 % whereas 89(39.6%) of them were recovered from females. One hundred of these isolates were selected (fifty from each province including; Erbil and Duhok Province) and subjected to 16 different antibiotics using disc diffusion method showed high resistancy to most tested antibiotics, 90% of these isolates were multidrug resistant, Imipeneme was considered as the most effective antibiotic effect on these isolates with resistant rate 47%.The genome all of these isolates were successfully amplified producing a single band of the 16srDNA locus in all strains with a molecular weight of about 956 bp in order to confirm at molecular level that all these isolates were P. aeruginosa.The results of the detection of five virulence related genes including (opr-1, tox-A,exo-S,las-B, and nan-1) revealed that ten of these isolates accounting (10%) lacked any tested virulence markers,oprIas a marker for presence of pathogenicity island was the most predominant marker among all other virulence markers accounting 90(90%) followed by tox-A, and exo-S accounting 86(86%) and 86(86%) respectively, while the prevalence of las-Bgene is found with the rate 82(82%) and nan-1with35(35%)respectively.

No abstract