Chlamydia trachomatis

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Chlamydia trachomatis
C. trachomatis inclusion bodies (brown) in a McCoy cell culture.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Bacteria Phylum: Chlamydiae Order: Chlamydiales Family: Chlamydiaceae Genus: Chlamydia Species: C. trachomatis
Binomial name
Chlamydia trachomatis Busacca, 1935

Chlamydia trachomatis, an obligate intracellular human pathogen, is one of three bacterial species in the genus Chlamydia, family Chlamydiaceae, class Chlamydiae, phylum Chlamydiae, domain Bacteria. C. trachomatis cannot be stained with the Gram stain.

C. trachomatis was the first chlamydial agent discovered in humans. It was identified in 1907.^[1]

It comprises three human biovars: Urethritis (serovars D-K), trachoma (serovars A, B, Ba or C) and lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV, serovars L1, 2 and 3)).

Many, but not all,^[2] C. trachomatis strains have an extrachromosomal plasmid.

Contents 1 Clinical significance 2 Identification 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Clinical significance

It has only been found living inside the cells of humans, causing the following conditions:

In men

• Prostatitis
• Epididymitis

In women

• Cervicitis
• Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
• Ectopic pregnancy
• Pelvic pain, chronic or acute
• Newborn eye (trachoma) or lung infection

In both sexes

• Urethritis
• Infertility
• Proctitis (rectal disease and bleeding)
• Reactive arthritis
• Trachoma

C. trachomatis has also been detected in some patients with temporomandibular joint disease (TMJ).

It may be treated with any of several antibiotics: azithromycin, erythromycin or doxycycline/tetracycline.

[edit] Identification

Chlamydia species are readily identified and distinguished from other chlamydial species using DNA-based tests.

Most strains of C. trachomatis are recognized by monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to epitopes in the VS4 region of MOMP.^[3] However, these mAbs may also crossreact with the other two Chlamydia species, Chlamydia suis and Chlamydia muridarum.

[edit] References

1. ^ Budai I (2007). "Chlamydia trachomatis: milestones in clinical and microbiological diagnostics in the last hundred years: a review". Acta microbiologica et immunologica Hungarica 54 (1): 5–22. doi:10.1556/AMicr.54.2007.1.2. PMID 17523388. 
2. ^ Alexander S, Ison CA (2007). "Is New Variant Chlamydia trachomatis present in England and Wales?": 29. doi:10.1136/sti.2007.026880. PMID 17855488. 
3. ^ Ortiz L, Angevine M, Kim SK, Watkins D, DeMars R (2000). "T-cell epitopes in variable segments of Chlamydia trachomatis major outer membrane protein elicit serovar-specific immune responses in infected humans". Infect. Immun. 68 (3): 1719–23. doi:10.1128/IAI.68.3.1719-1723.2000. PMID 10678996. 

[edit] External links

• Chlamydiae.com [1]
• 342556674 at GPnotebook