The First Isolation of Chlamydia pneumoniae from a Korean Patient.

Lee, Seung Joon; Jung, He Hyeok; Kim, Suk Kyeong; Choi, Dae Hee; Han, Seon Suk; Nam, Eui Cheol; Won, Jun Yeon; Park, Weon Seo; Lee, Myung Goo; Jung, Ki Suck

doi:2002.53.5.569

Tuberc Respir Dis > Volume 53(5); 2002 > Article

Case Report

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 2002;53(5):569-576.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2002.53.5.569 Published online November 1, 2002.

The First Isolation of Chlamydia pneumoniae from a Korean Patient.

Seung Joon Lee, He Hyeok Jung, Suk Kyeong Kim, Dae Hee Choi, Seon Suk Han, Eui Cheol Nam, Jun Yeon Won, Weon Seo Park, Myung Goo Lee, Ki Suck Jung

¹Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Korea. medfman@knuh.or.kr
²Clinical Research Center of Kangwon National University Hospital, Korea.
³Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Korea.

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Chlamydia pneumoniae is one of common causes in upper and lower respiratory infections. Isolating C. pneumoniae from clinical specimens is very difficult due to the characteristics of the organism. Recently, we succeeded in isolating C. pneumoniae from a Korean patient, who suffered from acute pharyngitis. This is the first isolate from a clinical specimen in Korea. METHOD: We attained a nasopharyngeal swab from a 22-year-old female patient, and inoculated it on a monolayer of the Hep-2 cell line. After 8 passages, we found the inclusion bodies of C. pneumoniae by an immunofluorescence(IF) test. The species-specific monoclonal antibody IF staining and species-specific PCR were done to confirm the species of the isolate, and electron microscopy was used to characterize the morphology. RESULT: The isolate was confirmed to be C. pneumoniae by species-specific IF and PCR, and the strain was named LKK-1. The shape of the elementary body was round and with a narrow periplasmic space, as shown by electron microscopy, which is similar to the Japanese strain, but not the Western strain. CONCLUSION: We succeeded in isolating C. pneumoniae from a 22-year-old patient with acute pharyngitis, which is the first isolate in Korea. In the future, this Korean strain will be useful to the study of C. pneumoniae.

Key Words: Chlamydia pneumoniae, Isolation, Korea