ABSTRACT
The present study aimed detecting and characterizing of β-lactamases producing E.cloacae isolated from different clinical sources in Hilla hospitals using phenotypic and molecular methods. A total of 308 samples were collected from two major hospitals at Hilla Province from October 2013 to April 2014. All isolates were tested biochemically, it was found that only 15 isolates from all isolates were belonging to Enterobactercloacae. All E. cloacae isolates were primarily screened for β-lactams resistance. Antibiotic susceptibility and minimum inhibitory concentration tests were performed using disk diffusion and agar dilution methods, respectively. The molecular study documented a widespread of Amp C genes among isolates of E. cloacae isolatesrepresented by 6/15(40%) positive isolates for Amp C primers. PCR assay revealed that prevalence rate of bla-TEM gene among tested isolates was 9(60%). followed by the bla-OXA gene was detected only in 3(20%).While bla-VEB gene and bla-SHV gene was not detected in any of the isolates. Some virulence factors of bacteria were also studied, and the results showed that all bacterial strains have capsule ,the results also also detected biofilm formation among isolates and the results revealed that 13(86%) of the isolates are biofilm former.