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Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular bacteria that cause a wide variety of diseases in humans and animals.
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The chlamydiae were originally classified as four species in the genus Chlamydia: C. trachomatis, C. pneumoniae, C. psittaci, and C. pecorum (the last species being found in ruminants). The C. psittaci group has been separated into three species: C. psittaci, C. felis, and C. abortus. The mouse pneumonitis strain (MoPn) is now classified as C. muridarum, and the guinea pig inclusion conjunctivitis strain (GPIC) is now designated C. caviae.
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C. trachomatis is divided into two biovars: trachoma and LGV (lymphogranuloma venereum). The trachoma biovar causes two major types of disease in humans: ocular trachoma, the leading infectious cause of preventable blindness in the developing world; and urogenital infections, which are sexually or neonatally transmitted. The 18 serovars of C. trachomatis fall into three groups: the trachoma serovars A, B, Ba, and C; the oculogenital serovars D–K; and the LGV serovars L1–L3. Serovars can be distinguished by serologic typing with monoclonal antibodies or by molecular gene typing. However, serovar identification usually is not important clinically since the antibiotic susceptibility pattern is the same for all three groups. The one exception applies when LGV is suspected on clinical grounds; in this situation, serovar determination is important because a longer treatment duration is required for LGV strains.
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BIOLOGY, GROWTH CYCLE, AND PATHOGENESIS
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During their intracellular growth, chlamydiae produce characteristic intracytoplasmic inclusions that can be visualized by direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) or Giemsa staining of infected clinical material, such as conjunctival scrapings or cervical or urethral epithelial cells. Chlamydiae are nonmotile, gram-negative, obligate intracellular bacteria that replicate within the cytoplasm of host cells, forming the characteristic membrane-bound inclusions that are the basis for some diagnostic tests. Originally considered to be large viruses, chlamydiae differ from viruses in possessing RNA and DNA as well as a cell wall that is quite similar in structure to the cell wall of typical gram-negative bacteria. However, chlamydiae lack peptidoglycan; their structural integrity depends on disulfide binding of outer-membrane proteins.
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Among the defining characteristics of chlamydiae is a unique growth cycle that involves alternation between two highly specialized morphologic forms (Figs. 85-1 and 85-2): the elementary body (EB), which is the infectious form and is specifically adapted for extracellular survival, and the metabolically active and replicating reticulate body (RB), which is not infectious, is adapted for an intracellular environment, and does not survive well outside the host cell. The biphasic growth cycle begins with attachment of the EB (diameter, 0.25–0.35 μm) at specific sites on the surface of the host cell. The EB enters the cell through a process similar to receptor-mediated endocytosis and resides in an inclusion, where the ...