Molecular diagnosis of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection

Chlamydia pneumoniae is a common and important intracellular bacterium impl icated in upper and lower respiratory tract infections in humans. Also, C. pneumoniae has been associated with chronic diseases such as atherosclerosi s and asthma. Since C. pneumoniae can cause severe clinical disease, correc t diagnosis and therapy are important issues. However, conventional assays for the detection of C. pneumoniae have limitations, and there is a need fo r more accurate diagnostic methods. Nucleic acid amplification (NAA) techni ques have the potential to offer clinical laboratories a convenient means o f detecting C. pneumoniae rapidly and reliably, ensuring optimal clinical d ecisions and patient care, including choice of appropriate antibiotic thera py. This minireview discusses the molecular biology-based amplification met hods that are currently available for the detection of C. pneumoniae as wel l as potential new techniques. Topics that are discussed include specimen c ollection, preparation of nucleic acid from samples, choice of gene target and primer set selection, optimal amplification conditions, and detection o f the amplification product. Also reviewed are methods for recognition and prevention of false-positive and false-negative results, evaluations of new and old tests, and clinical applications.