Isolation, Identification and Evaluation of Antibacterial Resistance in Kocuria Kristinae Isolated from Pneumoniae Patients in Hospitals in Iraq

Kocuria kristinae is a bacterium classified as a gram-positive aerobic, and it is a member of the normal flora of skin and is uncommon source of infection. This study aimed to isolate and identify K. kristinae from pneumonia patients in Iraqi hospitals and evaluate their antibiotic resistance profiles. The current study was conducted to determine K.kristinae clinical isolates taken from many hospitals in in Babil province،Iraq. A total of 150 different clinical samples were obtained. A total 93 isolates were obtained from clinical specimens have growth, 42 isolates (45.16%) were confirmed as K. kristinae using biochemical tests and the VITEK 2 system. 39 Gram negative bacteria, 7 fungi and 5 mix between G+ve and G-ve while other hand, 57 samples have no growth on culture media. The antibiotic susceptibility results showed by VITEK automated system in detecting antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among isolates, its revealed that 23 K.kristinae isolates (54.8%) were found be sensitive to Gentamycin, linezolid, Tetracycline, tigecycline, Rifampicin, Doxycycline and Ciprofloxacin, in other hands, 18 isolates (42.8%) were resistant to Benzylpencillin, Moxifloxacin , meropenem and Fucidic acid and 1 isolate (2.4%) was intermediate to one antibiotics ( Vancomycin). Documented cases of infections caused by Kocuria spp. are limited. Most of these infections have been detected in hospitalized patients with severe underlying diseases or who had indwelling devices or implants or suppressed immunity. These findings highlight the potential clinical significance of K. kristinae and the importance of monitoring its antibiotic resistance patterns.