RESUMO
This study was conducted to determine the relation between the chlamydia pneumoniae [CP] seropositivity and the serum levels of interleulcin-8 [IL-8] in patients with acute myocardial infarction [AMI]. The study included 77 Egyptian patients having AMI and 13 control healthy subjects of matched age and sex. CP antibody testing [IgM and IgG] was performed using indirect immunofluorescence test, together with IL-8 immunoassay in both patients and control. High titers of CP IgG antibodies were found in 55.8% of AMI patients [43 patients], while only one positive case [7.69%] was found in control group. Higher concentrations of IL-8 were found in AMI patients when compared with the control group. Also, the levels of IL-8 were higher among CP positive AMI patients when compared with negative cases. It was concluded that a high prevalence of anti-Chlamydia IgG antibodies was found among a group of AMI patients and also higher levels of IL-8 among CP positive cases was found. It can be suggested that CP chronic infection is implicated in these cases and it could be considered as a contributing factor for the persistence of elevated levels of the chemokine IL-8 in some of those patients