CHLAMYDIA-PNEUMONIAE AS CAUSATIVE ORGANIS M IN ATYPICAL PNEUMONIA

A 33-year-old man, who two months previously had been treated for bron chopneumonia with cefuroxim, fell ill again with cough, dyspnoea and f ever up to 39.8 degrees C. Auscultation and lung function tests indica ted respiratory tract obstruction. The chest radiograph revealed an in filtrate of the left lower lobe and bronchoscopy showed hypertrophic b ronchitis. Empirical antibiotic treatment with clarithromycin (initial ly 500 mg twice daily, continued on half this dose) lead to rapid impr ovement 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 obtaine d during bronchoscopy permitted the continuous demonstration of Chlamy dia pneumoniae inclusions in HEp-2 host cells by immunofluorescence mi croscopy. In parallel, Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA was specifically demon strated in the lavage fluid by use of the polymerase chain reaction. T his is the first reported isolation of a replicative Chlamydia pneumon iae strain in Germany.