Prevalence and Molecular Diagnosis of Certain Ocular Bacterial and Viral Infections of Some Patients in Basrah City

The eye, a functionally complex organ, is susceptible to a variety of bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. This study aims to evaluate the results and their accuracy in identifying the most important bacterial and viral infections of the conjunctiva that could be good candidates for this. This research included collecting (60) samples (swabs) from patients’ eyes in the form of Swab for bacterial diagnosis and VTM for viral diagnosis for those suffering from conjunctivitis during their visit to Al-Mawani Teaching Hospital and (Al-Basira Clinic specializing) in ophthalmology in Basra Governorate, southern Iraq, during the period from December the second until July (2022). The study confirmed that bacteria and viruses are one of the causes of conjunctivitis, as certain types of viruses were diagnosed using the Rel-Time PCR technique, the highest percentage of which was Chlamydia trachomates (73.3%), followed by Varicella zoster virus (68.3%), and HSV-2. (61.6%) and finally HSV-1 (58.3%).The study subjected samples to direct examination and identification of bacterial colonies using an electron microscope, chemical tests, and the application of the (Vitek2) system to ensure the validity of the results and showed a percentage of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (6.6% (.This study relied on the gender of the patients in distributing the samples. The percentage of males was (53%) and the percentage of females was (47%). Based on the difference between age groups and the differences in injuries among them, the highest percentage included those between (26-35) (30%) and (36-45) (28%).