Chlamydial Pneumonia: Not for Babies Only?

Excerpt

Chlamydia trachomatis was first described as a possible cause of pneumonia in an infant by Schachter et al¹ in 1975. Subsequently, Beem and Saxon² confirmed its role as a respiratory pathogen. It would be fair to say that C trachomatis is accepted as a common cause of pneumonia in infants younger than 6 months. Cases have been reported from Europe,^3,4 Israel,⁵ and Canada,⁶ as well as from the United States.

The next logical question is whether C trachomatis can cause pneumonia in adults. There have been individual reports of the isolation of C trachomatis from the oropharynges of adults, usually in the context of experimental or natural-inclusion conjunctivitis or related to sexual practices.^7,8,9 Recently, Tack and colleagues¹⁰ reported isolating C trachomatis from the lower respiratory tract of six adults, five of whom had pneumonia. In this issue of The Journal (p 1319), Komaroff