Antibody response to chlamydiae in children with asthma and respiratory illness

• Published in: Folia microbiologica Vol. 56; no. 2; pp. 155 - 158
• Main Authors: Kazar, J, Kovacova, E, Gasparovic, J, Cervenka, J, Furkova, K, Hornova, J, Wimmerova, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.03.2011; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Antibodies, Bacterial - blood; Applied Microbiology; Asthma; Asthma - immunology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Chlamydia; Chlamydia Infections - immunology; Chlamydia trachomatis; Chlamydia trachomatis - immunology; Chlamydia trachomatis - isolation & purification; Chlamydophila pneumoniae; Chlamydophila pneumoniae - immunology; Chlamydophila pneumoniae - isolation & purification; Conjunctiva - microbiology; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Humans; Immunoglobulin A - blood; Immunoglobulin G - blood; Immunoglobulin M - blood; Immunology; Life Sciences; Microbiology; Nasopharynx - microbiology; Pediatrics; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory tract; Respiratory Tract Infections - immunology; Respiratory Tract Infections - microbiology; Sexually transmitted diseases; STD; Chlamydial Infection; Lower Respiratory Tract Infection; Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; Chlamydia Trachomatis; Asthma
• ISSN: 0015-5632; 1874-9356
• DOI: 10.1007/s12223-011-0021-5

No relation between the occurrence of antibodies to chlamydial agents and asthma in children was found. In asthmatic children, the antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis occurred in 3.1% and to Chlamydophila pneumoniae in 22.7%, whereas in a control group of children without asthma or other allergic disease in 2.3% and 24.0%, respectively. The occurrence of antibodies of IgA and IgG classes to C. pneumoniae was also very similar; its rise was age-dependent. On the other hand, in the group of children in a pre-school age with respiratory tract infection, anti-chlamydial antibodies were demonstrated significantly more often (18.5% of IgG antibodies to C. trachomatis , 20.0% of IgM antibodies to both C. trachomatis and C. pneumoniae ) than in those suffering from other, non-respiratory illness (3.9% of the former and 5.9% of the latter antibodies). However, in these children, we did not succeed in detection of C. trachomatis in conjunctival and nasopharyngeal smears by PCR. Nevertheless, chlamydial agents ( C. trachomatis in infants, C. pneumoniae in pre-school children) should be taken into consideration in a differential diagnosis of respiratory tract inflammation.