Chronic inflammatory diseases at secondary sites ensuing urogenital or pulmonary chlamydia infections
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis and C. pneumoniae are members of the Chlamydiaceae family of obligate intracellular bacteria. The former causes diseases predominantly at the mucosal epithelial layer of the urogenital or eye, leading to pelvic inflammatory diseases or blindness; while the latter is a major causative agent for pulmonary infection. On top of these well-described diseases at the respective primary infection sites, Chlamydia are notoriously known to migrate and cause pathologies at remote sites of a host. One such example is the sexually acquired reactive arthritis that often occurs at few weeks after genital C. trachomatis infection. C. pneumoniae, on the other hand, has been implicated in an extensive list of chronic inflammatory diseases which include atherosclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, asthma, and primary biliary cirrhosis. This review summarizes the Chlamydia infection associated diseases at the secondary sites of infection, and describes the potential mechanisms involved in the disease migration and pathogenesis.
Keywords
Chlamydia trachomatis, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Chronic inflammation, Reactive arthritis, Atherosclerosis, Multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Primary biliary cirrhosis
Divisions
fac_med
Funders
Malaysia Ministry of Education Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FP014-2017A),Universiti Malaya RK014-2018,Malaysia Public Service Department Excellent Student Program Scholarship (PPC)
Publication Title
Microorganisms
Volume
8
Issue
1
Publisher
MDPI
Publisher Location
ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND