Chronic follicular conjunctivitis associated with Chlamydia psittaci or Chlamydia pneumoniae.
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.
Lietman
T
T
F. I. Proctor Foundation, University of California San Francisco 94143-0142, USA.
Brooks
D
D
Moncada
J
J
Schachter
J
J
Dawson
C
C
Dean
D
D
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*