ABSTRACT
In 2008, 50 samples (BAL), coming from hospital patients, with acute respiratory symptoms have been investigated using two real-time PCR methods: one assay for the single detection of Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae DNA and one commercially available real-time duplex PCR assay for the detection of C. pneumoniae and M. pneumoniae DNA. Both techniques used here showed compliant results, with 100% concordance for detection of C. pneumoniae and 98% for detection of M. pneumoniae. The positive results obtained agreed with the clinical suspicion of such infections in some cases and with the presence of IgM specific for C. pneumoniae and M. pneumoniae in all cases of acute infection.
Subject(s)
Chlamydophila pneumoniae/isolation & purification , Mycoplasma pneumoniae/isolation & purification , Pneumonia, Bacterial/diagnosis , Pneumonia, Mycoplasma/diagnosis , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods , Serologic Tests/methods , Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid/microbiology , Chlamydophila pneumoniae/genetics , Chlamydophila pneumoniae/immunology , Community-Acquired Infections/blood , Community-Acquired Infections/diagnosis , Community-Acquired Infections/microbiology , DNA, Bacterial/analysis , Humans , Mycoplasma pneumoniae/genetics , Mycoplasma pneumoniae/immunology , Pneumonia, Bacterial/blood , Pneumonia, Bacterial/microbiology , Pneumonia, Mycoplasma/blood , Pneumonia, Mycoplasma/microbiology , Reproducibility of ResultsSubject(s)
Antibodies, Bacterial/blood , Chlamydia Infections/veterinary , Chlamydia/immunology , Fluorescent Antibody Technique/veterinary , Neutralization Tests/veterinary , Swine Diseases/immunology , Abortion, Veterinary/microbiology , Animals , Chlamydia/isolation & purification , Chlamydia Infections/immunology , Conjunctivitis, Bacterial/veterinary , Humans , Italy , Swine , Swine Diseases/microbiologyABSTRACT
The distribution of Chlamydia trachomatis serovars among 157 heterosexual male patients with urethritis and the presence of coinfections with other sexually transmitted infections were studied. One hundred seventeen (74.5%) patients, with a mean age of 33.7 years, were Italians, whereas 40 (25.5%) were immigrants coming from eastern European countries, Africa, and South America. All the immigrants and 82 (70.0%) Italian patients reported sex with prostitutes. Out of 157 patients, 73 (46.5%) were found positive for C. trachomatis in urethral secretions and eight different C. trachomatis serovars were identified. The most common serovars were E (n = 18; 24.7%), D (n = 15; 20.5%), G (n = 14;19.2%), and F (n = 12; 16.4%). The sequencing data showed a high degree of conservation of the omp1 gene. Thirty-six (46.7%) out of the 73 C. trachomatis-positive patients were coinfected with another sexually transmitted infection. The most common coinfection was gonorrhoea detected in 22 (30.1%) patients, followed by condyloma in eight (8.2%) patients, syphilis in five (6.8%), and HIV in three (4.1%).
