Shams Muthanna Kadhim, a faculty member at the College of Marine Sciences, University of Basrah, received her PhD from the College of Science, Department of Life Sciences, University of Basrah, after successfully defending her dissertation entitled: "Immune Response to Lysogenic Staphylococcus aureus Isolates Associated with Respiratory Tract Infections."

The study involved collecting 211 respiratory tract samples, including 110 clinical samples and 101 control samples. Staphylococcus aureus bacteria were isolated and identified using conventional methods and biochemical tests, as well as molecular techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to analyze the presence and different serotypes of latent bacteriophages. The immune response was assessed using ELISA.

The results showed that lysogenic Staphylococcus aureus isolates exhibited higher latent serodiversity and higher levels of antibiotic resistance, without any consistent or statistically significant changes in systemic immune markers.