Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae as a cause of community-acquired pneumonia in Thailand.

Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae infection is increasingly reported worldwide nowadays. We studied twelve Thai adults presenting with the clinical symptoms and signs of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) due to C. pneumoniae (TWAR) at Pramongkutklao Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Their mean age was 38 (range 21-73) years. Six patients lived in Bangkok. Seven patients had comorbid diseases (four cases with allergic asthma, one each with diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary artery disease). C. pneumoniae pneumonia presented as subacute pneumonia in 6 patients. The clinical manifestations were mild (IDSA risk class I-III) except in 4 patients who had preexisting allergic asthma, COPD and coronary heart disease. The diagnosis of C. pneumoniae pneumonia was based on microimmunofluorescence (MIF) antibody technique (IgM titer > or = 1:16, IgG > or = 1:512, IgA > or = 1:256 with or without fourfold rises). The clinical conditions were consistent with the primary infection (IgM titer of 1:16 or higher) in 6 patients and reinfection (IgG titer of 1:512, IgA titer of 1:256 or higher without rises of IgM titer) in the other 6 patients. Minimal bilateral pleural effusion was detected in only one patient. Coinfection was demonstrated in 2 patients (one each with S. pneumoniae and K. pneumoniae). All patients markedly improved after a 2-week course of macrolide, doxycycline or newest fluoroquinolone therapy. All patients had done well at one year of follow-up. C. pneumoniae infection has been recently recognized and a high seroprevalence (37%) in Thai school children and 100 per cent in young male Thai military conscripts has been reported. This report suggests that this infection, C. pneumoniae, may be a common pathogen of CAP in Thailand.

Detection of Salmonella contamination in food samples by dot-ELISA, DNA amplification and bacterial culture.

A dot-blot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (dot-ELISA) employing a genus Salmonella specific monoclonal antibody (MAb) was used for detection of the bacteria in food samples in comparison with the conventional culture method and the DNA amplification. Among the 200 chicken and pork samples (100 each) tested, 9% and 33%, 7% and 20% and 7 and 23% were positive for salmonellae by the dot-ELISA, the culture method and the DNA amplification, respectively. Statistical analyses revealed that the sensitivity, specificity, efficacy, and positive and negative predictive values of the detection of Salmonella in the food samples by dot-ELISA compared with the culture method were 93.33%, 91.76%, 92%, 66.66% and 98.73%, respectively. Comparison of the DNA amplification and the culture method revealed the sensitivity, specificity, efficacy, and positive and negative predictive values of 100%, 91.58%, 92%, 65.21% and 100%, respectively. The dot-ELISA and the DNA amplification results were in a better agreement when the two assays were compared. The sensitivity, specificity, efficacy, positive and negative predictive values of the dot-ELISA compared to the DNA amplification were 91.3%, 100%, 98%, 100% and 97.5%, respectively. From this study, the dot-ELISA is rapid, simple, sensitive, specific at low cost with limited amount of infectious waste to be disposed and offers another advantage in that it detects only the smooth LPS of Salmonella which implies the possible presence of the virulent organisms.