Molecular study of virulence factors and bioformatic of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from pregnant women suffering from urinary tract infection in Iraqi population

This study aims to investigate the frequency of the blaZ gene among Staphylococcus aureus isolated from pregnant women suffering from urinary tract infections. This study included 150 urine samples collected from 150 pregnant women with urinary tract infections in several hospitals in Baghdad, Iraq. All urine samples were examined physically and microscopically; in addition, the isolation and identification of bacterial isolates were done by traditional culture, and the final diagnosis, as well as antibiotic resistance testing, were carried out using the VITEK system. blaZ gene was detected using a conventional polymerase chain reaction technique. From 150 urine samples, 91 were culture-positive and 59 were culture-negative. All S. aureus isolates expressed a high level of resistance (100%) to Ampicillin, Amoxicillin, Ticarcillin, and Methicillin, followed by Norfloxacin (83%), Azlocillin, Cefdinir, and Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (80%). In addition, the blaZ gene was positive among all S. aureus isolates. S. aureus was accepted as the most important bacterium because it can cause urinary tract infections among pregnant women in Baghdad city and show high level of antibiotic resistance due to the presence of many genes in its plasmid, such as the blaZ gene, which plays an important role in antibiotic resistance.