The College of Education for Pure Sciences, University of Karbala discussed a Ph.D. thesis on the role of bacteria as a cause of acute appendicitis in Karbala and their resistance to antibiotics by the postgraduate student, Mr. Wassan Redha Hassan.

The thesis aimed at finding safe biological treatment as an alternative to chemotherapy, one that is more effective, less expensive and has fewer side effects on healthy cells.

The thesis concluded that Bifidobacterium bifidum can be isolated from dairy products, cow's milk and human breast milk, and its identity confirmed using phenotypic tests, biochemical tests, sugar fermentation tests, Vitek identification cards and molecular diagnostics using PCR.

The thesis recommended that the biosurfactant extracted from B. bifidum bacteria is effective against cancer cells and has no significant adverse effects on normal cells, however, it is preferable to conduct complementary studies to identify the biosurfactant components and determine which ones are most effective in inducing apoptosis in cancer cells.