The uncontrolled discharge of industrial wastes causes the accumulation of high heavy metal concentrations in soil and water, leading to many health issues. In the present study, a Gram-negative Aeromonas sobria was isolated from heavily contaminated soil in the Tanjaro area, southwest of Sulaymaniyah city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq; then, we assessed its ability to uptake heavy metals. A. sobria was molecularly identified based on the partial amplification of 16S rRNA using novel primers. The sequence was aligned with 33 strains to analyze phylogenetic relationships by maximum likelihood. Based on maximum tolerance concentration (MTC), A. sobria could withstand Zn, Cu, and Ni at concentrations of 5, 6, and 8 mM, respectively. ICP-OES data confirmed that A. sobria reduced 54.89% (0.549 mM) of the Cu, 62.33% (0.623 mM) of the Ni, and 36.41% (0.364 mM) of the Zn after 72 h in the culture medium. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that A. sobria accumulated both Cu and Ni, whereas biosorption was suggested for the Zn. These findings suggest that metal-resistant A. sobria could be a promising candidate for heavy metal bioremediation in polluted areas. However, more broadly, research is required to assess the feasibility of exploiting A. sobria in situ.

Although human monkeypox infections had not been recorded in the Kurdistan region of Iraq as of August 2023, the rapid growth of cases worldwide and the detection of monkeypox in neighboring Middle Eastern nations call for careful planning and timely response measures. Educating and empowering frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) so that they can act to curb the spread of monkeypox infections are core elements of primary prevention and protecting public health. Therefore, this study aimed to assess HCWs’ knowledge and attitudes about monkeypox and their willingness to vaccinate against monkeypox. By employing a convenience sampling method, an online survey was disseminated via Google Forms between 1 November 2022 and 15 January 2023. The researchers utilized regression analyses to ascertain the factors associated with the three parameters: knowledge, attitude, and the willingness to vaccinate. A total of 637 HCWs were included in the analysis (ages ranged between 21 and 51 years). The mean overall scores were 8.18 of a max score of 16 (SD 3.37), 3.4 of 5 (SD 1.37), and 2.41 of 5 (SD 1.25) for knowledge, attitude, and willingness to vaccinate, respectively. A multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that HCWs who had heard about monkeypox before 2022 rather than later had a higher level of knowledge (AOR: 4.85; 95% CI: 2.81–8.36; p < 0.001). In addition, those who had newly joined the workforce or had less than 1 year experience in practice had more positive attitudes about curbing monkeypox (AOR: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.20–0.59; p < 0.01) than those who practiced for longer. No significant predictors of willingness to vaccinate against monkeypox were identified. The research revealed that HCWs exhibited a relatively low level of monkeypox knowledge. They also had poor attitudes towards monkeypox vaccination and were therefore reluctant to receive the vaccines. Imparting knowledge about the infectious disease can cultivate better awareness and attitudes among HCWs as to their roles in mitigating the spread of an epidemic in the foreseeable future.