The Department of Medical Microbiology at the College of Medicine, Al-Qadisiyah University, discussed the doctoral thesis entitled “Distribution of Some Virulence Determinants and Their Association with Multidrug Resistance (XDR) in Bacteria Causing Urinary Tract Infections Isolated from Immunocompromised Patients.” The thesis was presented by student Alaa Abdul Attia, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Manal Mohammed Kazim.
The thesis aimed to study the distribution of some virulence determinants in isolates of bacteria that cause these infections with multiple resistance (XDR) and evaluate their relationship to some antibiotic resistance determinants.
The most important conclusions were that Gram-negative bacteria were the most common, with Escherichia coli being the most prevalent. The study also showed that virulence genes related to adhesion and iron acquisition were the most common in the isolates causing these infections.
The most important recommendations include the need to focus on developing effective strategies to monitor and combat bacterial infections, especially in immunocompromised groups. It also emphasized the importance of improving the use of antibiotics to reduce drug resistance. It called for the study of additional factors to understand the relationship between antibiotic resistance and virulence factors.