Using A Galleria Mellonella to Investigate the Pathogenicity of Brachybacterium epidermidis Isolated from Conjunctivitis Newborn in Mosul City, Iraq

A total of 100 clinical samples were collected from neonates diagnosed with conjunctivitis at three hospitals in Mosul: Al-Salam Teaching Hospital, Mosul General Hospital, and Ibn Al-Atheer Hospital. Among the bacterial isolates, Brachybacterium epidermidis was identified in 2.27% of the isolates, which isolated for the first time in Mosul/Iraq. This Brachybacterium epidermidis grow on chocolate agar and furthermore molecular identification was performed using the universal 16S rRNA primer and the resulting sequence was compared with reference sequences in the NCBI database using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST), thereby confirming a 100% identity with Brachybacterium epidermidis Marseille-Q2903. In order to assess its pathogenic potential, Galleria mellonella larvae were injected with a standardized bacterial suspension compared with control group showed distinct morphological and histological changes indicating the bacterium’s ability to cause disease.