environmental, wildlife and zoo assay data sheet
Chlamydophila pneumoniae
(also known as Chlamydia pneumoniae)
Test code:
B0003
-
Ultrasensitive qualitative detection of
Chlamydia/Chlamydophila pneumoniae by real time PCR.
(See test
code B0111 for
generalized detection of all Chlamydia/Chlamydophila
species)
Three Chlamydia
species can cause pneumonia:
Chlamydia
pneumoniae, Chlamydia
psittaci, and
Chlamydia trachomatis. All are small, gram-negative,
obligate intracellular bacteria.
In humans,
infection with
C. pneumoniae can
cause mild pneumonia or bronchitis in adolescents and young
adults. Older adults may experience more severe disease and
repeated infections. Recent research has shown
that C. pneumoniae can
infect other animals besides humans (Pospisil and Canderle,
2004). C. pneumoniae has been isolated from
horses, koalas affected by ocular and genital infections,
Australian and African frogs, from a Tanzanian chameleon,
a green sea turtle in the Cayman Islands, an iguana, puff adders
and a Burmese python. All of the
infected animals had developed symptoms similar to those of
infected
humans.
Culture detection of C.
pneumonia is difficult because it is an intracellular
bacterium. However, PCR is a highly specific and sensitive
detection method, and is often preferred for clinical diagnosis
of this organism.
Utilities:
-
Help confirm the disease causing agent
-
Shorten the time required to confirm a clinical
diagnosis of
infection
-
Help ensure that mammal populations are free of
Chlamydia pneumoniae
-
Early prevention of spread of
Chlamydia pneumoniae among an
animal facility
-
Minimize human exposure to Chlamydia pneumoniae
-
Safety monitoring of biological products that derive
from mammals
References:
Pospisil, L. and Canderle, J. (2004)
Chlamydia (Chlamydophila)
pneumoniae in animals: a review.
Vet. Med. – Czech, 49: 129–134
Specimen requirements:
Respiratory
swab, or 0.2 ml whole
blood in EDTA (purple top) tube, or 0.2 ml
serum, or 0.2 ml sputum, or 0.2 ml fresh, frozen or fixed tissue, or bronchial lavage.
Contact Zoologix
if advice is needed to determine an appropriate specimen type
for a specific diagnostic application. For specimen
types not listed here, please contact Zoologix to confirm
specimen acceptability and shipping instructions.
For all
specimen types, if there will be a delay in shipping, or during
very warm weather, refrigerate specimens until shipped and ship
with a cold pack unless more stringent shipping requirements are
specified. Frozen specimens should be shipped so as to remain
frozen in transit. See shipping
instructions for more information.
Turnaround time:
2 business days
Methodology:
Qualitative real time PCR
Normal range:
Nondetected