Technical Information & Help Required
Despite being trained in micro. and immuno. and working in these fields for many years,
i have been told some things about Chlamydia which i never knew!
Could someone confirm or deny these "facts" for me and/or point me to releveant sites
regarding Chlamydia - especially regarding statistics on world wide infectivity rates
and incidences etc.
I have been told that all Chlamydia sp. (psittaci, trachomatis and pneumonia) during
untreated infection are ingested into peripheric monocytes and spread throughout the
body. Monocytes become sessile in tissues and differentiate to tissue macrophages (eg.
in joints and heart area). The organisms encapsulate the macrophages resulting in
granulomas which finally transform healthy tissue to a fibromatous stage.
These Chlamydiae (or fragments of them) are liberated triggering antibody production.
This occurs even with negative detection of antigen at the primary sites of infection.
This leads to chronic persisting infection.
Therefore, if the primary infection is untreated or not treated properly, the chronic
disease can happen.
The only way to detect this "chronic" state is to measure antibodies. This chronic stage
is charecterised by the appearance of IgA antibodies. IgM antibodies appear at acute
infection stage.
The summary is:-
Rapid tests for antigens are not sensitive enough.
PCR, LCR and culture are good but not widely available and pricey.
The above two methods only detect acute infections.
The ideal test would be a rapid serology test for antibodies.
IgG = Current or past infection.
IgM = Current, acute infection.
IgA = Chronic infection.
Are all these facts correct?
Should we be doing more antibody tests rather than antigen tests for detecting
chlamydial infections (especaily chronic as antigens would often not be present in
primary sites)?
Any views on this subject would be appreciated as Chlamydial infections are important
for me. Please recommend any antibody kits (rapid or ELISA), thank you.
Best regards
Andrew
Please reply by email or remove SPAM for news reply.
E: ashine at trinitybiotech.ie -or-
E: trinitybiotech at technologist.com
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