Chlamydia and Chlamydophila species

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Chlamydophila psittaci involved in feline rhinotracheitis together with herpes virus 1 C.psittaci more frequently infects the conjunctival epithelium -> chronic conjunctivitis, see feline chlamydiosis

Overview

Characteristics

  • Obligate intracellular bacteria
  • Gram negative bacteria with outer membrane, LPS, ribosomes, DNA and RNA
  • Peptidoglycan cell wall resistant to lysozyme
  • Only grow in presence of living eukaryotic cells
  • Unable to synthesis ATP therefore require intermediates from host cells


Pathogenesis and pathogenicity

  • Elementary body, the infective form, phagocytosed and internalised into host epithelial cells
  • Transformation into larger reticulate body
  • Reticulate body divides by binary fission to form many new chlamydia cells
  • Reticulate body has un-crosslinked peptidoglycan, which is cross-linked to form elementary bodies
  • Elementary bodies released from dying host cells to infect other cells


Clinical infections

Diagnosis

Treatments