[Respiratory tract diseases due to Chlamydia pneumoniae]

A newly recognized chlamydial species, Chlamydia pneumoniae causes acute respiratory infections including pneumonia, bronchitis and pharyngitis. In this paper, eight cases of bronchitis and tonsillitis associated with C. pneumoniae are presented. Three cases came to the clinic because of persistent cough and productive sputum. C. pneumoniae was isolated from sputum of a patient and cultured in HeLa 229 cells. Other two patients were diagnosed serologically; Antibodies were measured by microimmunofluorescence using formalized elementary bodies of C. pneumoniae. A titer of 512 in the IgG class was detected. Four patients had sore throat. C. pneumoniae was isolated and cultured from tonsillar swabs in all of them. A patient with sore throat and cough diagnosed as pharyngolaryngitis was sero-positive. Antibodies to C. pneumoniae in IgG and IgM class were 128 and 32, respectively. All the patients were treated with macrolide antibiotics (erythromycin and rokitamycin), and clinical symptoms subsided. In five patients from whom the organism was isolated, the agents were eradicated by the treatment. However, clinical courses of those patients revealed that patient takes a long time to recover from the illness, if diagnosis and first choice of antimicrobial agent are not appropriate.