Faculty of Science / University of Kerbala has discussed the M.A thesis which is entitled “association the effect of some plant extracts on the virulence of pathogenic bacteria isolated from urinary tract infections with levels of antibacterial peptides in patients’ urine”.
The study, presented by Rabab Kadhim Jaber, aims at evaluating relationship between virulence of pathogenic bacteria isolated from urinary tract infection patients and levels of antimicrobial peptides in urine, as well as determining antimicrobial activity of some medicinal plants against the most common isolated bacteria.
The thesis includes collecting patients’ urine samples with urinary tract infections and culturing them to identify bacteria causing diseases, as well as conducting an ELISA test to determine levels of antibacterial peptides and their relationship to such infections in terms of increase and decrease.
The study finds out that number of females suffering from urinary tract infections is greater than males, and that E.coli and S.aureus bacteria are among the most common pathogens.
The study recommends separating and purifying active compounds present in aqueous solution of gum arabic and determining antibacterial activity of each, as well as studying the effect of solution on ability of pathogenic bacteria to produce virulence factors qualitatively and quantitatively, studying changes in genes responsible for producing antimicrobial proteins and their relationship to recurrence of infection, and examining relationship between variation in levels of antimicrobial peptides with some immune indicators (interleukins and chemokines) in patients with urinary tract infections.