The Role of Chlamydia in Upper Respiratory Tract Infections.
Although Chlamydia pneumoniae and Chlamydia psittaci are well-established causes of community-acquired pneumonia, little is known about the role of Chlamydia species in upper respiratory tract infections. C. pneumoniae may play a role in the pathogenesis of acute otitis media. Although C. pneumoniae has been isolated from the middle-ear fluid of children with otitis, children in whom the organism was isolated from middle-ear fluid improved despite being treated with antibiotics that are not active against C. pneumoniae. Although many patients with community-acquired pneumonia caused by C. pneumoniae have symptoms suggestive of sinusitis, there is only one report of isolation of the organism from the maxillary sinus of a patient with sinusitis. Studies of the association with pharyngitis are all based on serology, which often has a poor correlation with isolation of the organism by culture.
Hammerschlag
MR
Department of Pediatrics and Medicine, State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203-2098, USA. E-mail: mhammerschlag@pol.net