title: Chronic follicular conjunctivitis associated with Chlamydia psittaci or Chlamydia pneumoniae.
abstract: We determined whether patients with chronic conjunctivitis in whom direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) tests revealed genus-specific chlamydial antigens (but not species-specific Chlamydia trachomatis antigens) were infected with Chlamydia psittaci or Chlamydia pneumoniae. Patients were divided into a case group of possible non-trachomatis chlamydial conjunctivitis and a control group of nonchlamydial conjunctivitis on the basis of examination and DFA testing. Species-specific primers were used to amplify C. trachomatis, C. psittaci, and C. pneumoniae DNA with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Four (27%) of 15 samples from the case group were positive for C. psittaci or C. pneumoniae DNA, whereas none of 24 control samples were positive. Sequencing revealed a C. pneumoniae, an avian C. psittaci, and two mammalian C. psittaci strains. A short course of oral antibiotic treatment appears to be inadequate for patients with non-trachomatis chlamydial conjunctivitis. Ocular infections due to C. pneumoniae and C. psittaci may be more common than previously recognized and can be identified by DFA and PCR.
authors.affiliation: F. I. Proctor Foundation, University of California San Francisco 94143-0142, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lietman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moncada
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schachter
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dawson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dean
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002690:Chlamydia Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D016993:Chlamydophila pneumoniae; D002691:Chlamydophila psittaci; D003231:Conjunctivitis / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D009956:Psittacosis / Q000469:parasitology*