[Isolation of Chlamydia pneumoniae in atypical pneumonia]

A 33-year-old man, who two months previously had been treated for bronchopneumonia with cefuroxime, fell ill again with cough, dyspnoea and fever up to 39.8 degrees C. Auscultation and lung function tests indicated respiratory tract obstruction. The chest radiograph revealed an infiltrate of the left lower lobe and bronchoscopy showed hypertrophic bronchitis. Empirical antibiotic treatment with clarithromycin (initially 500 mg twice daily, continued on half this dose) lead to rapid improvement of clinical symptoms and the patient could be discharged after 9 days. A follow-up examination 3 months later showed no abnormality. A cell culture procedure using bronchoalveolar lavage fluid obtained during bronchoscopy permitted the continuous demonstration of Chlamydia pneumoniae inclusions in HEp-2 host cells by immunofluorescence microscopy. In parallel, Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA was specifically demonstrated in the lavage fluid by use of the polymerase chain reaction. This is the first reported isolation of a replicative Chlamydia pneumoniae strain in Germany.