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Article Type

Article

Abstract

Background: A biofilm is a complicated, three-dimensional microbial community that forms at an interface and interacts with its surroundings. To detect the ability of bacteria to form biofilms, the Tissue Culture Plate Method (TCP) is one of the most widely accurate methods and is frequently used with clinical isolates. Objective: This study aims to determine the ability of clinical bacterial isolates to form biofilms using the TCP method and to compare biofilm production between different types of bacteria; to study the relationship between biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance, which helps in understanding the reasons for the failure of some antibiotic treatments; and to highlight the risks posed by clinical biofilm-producing isolates. Method: Eighty clinical samples (blood, urine, sputum, burns) were collected from Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital in Karbala for the period from December 2025 to March 2026. The samples were cultured and isolated on Blood Agar and MacConkey plates and then diagnosed using the API 20E system according to the manufacturer's instruction. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method, as per the instructions of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). Resistance to three or more antibiotics was considered indicative of multidrug resistance (MDR). The TCP test was performed according to the approved protocol to assess the bacteria's ability to form biofilms. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26. Chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis to determine whether there was a relationship between biofilm formation and MDR status. Result: Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus exhibited the highest capacity for forming robust biofilms. Furthermore, multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates showed significantly greater biofilm formation compared to non-MDR isolates. Clinical isolates from burns and infected wounds exhibited higher optical density values than urinary isolates, indicating increased biofilm activity in hospital-acquired infections. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the widespread prevalence of hospital-acquired biofilm-producing clinical bacterial isolates. We observed an association between biofilm formation and multidrug resistance, which often contributes to treatment failure and persistent infection.

Keywords

Biofilm, TCP, MDR, Bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus

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