DETECTION OF CHLAMYDIA-PNEUMONIAE IN CLINICAL SPECIMENS BY POLYMERASECHAIN-REACTION USING NESTED PRIMERS

A nested primers strategy was used to develop a two-step PCR test for the direct species-specific detection of the 16s rRNA gene of Chlamydi a pneumoniae. This test was applied to 58 nasopharyngeal or oropharyng eal swab specimens collected from patients in studies of community-acq uired pneumonia and in a local outbreak of respiratory disease. Twelve patients (21 %) showed evidence of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in serological tests (7/56; 13 %), culture (8/58; 14 %) or PCR (10/58; 17 %). Nested PCR but not single-step PCR was found to be as sensitive a s culture or serology for detection of infection with this organism. I n summary, nested PCR can be useful in direct testing of clinical spec imens for Chlamydia pneumoniae, making additional DNA purification ste ps unnecessary.