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Chlamydia pneumoniae in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis and neurological controls

Istituto di Clinica Neurologica, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

A Piana

Istituto di Igiene e Medicina Preventiva, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

M Pugliatti

Istituto di Clinica Neurologica, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

A Sotgiu

Istituto di Clinica Neurologica, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

G A Deiana

Istituto di Clinica Neurologica, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

E Sgaramella

Istituto di Neurochirurgia, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

E Muresu

Istituto di Igiene e Medicina Preventiva, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

G Rosati

Istituto di Clinica Neurologica, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Chlamydia pneumoniae infection is a common event in neurological patients and recovery of C. pneumoniae DNA in the cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients could represent an epiphenomenon. We assessed the relevance of C. pneumoniae infection in 62 CSF samples from 32 MS patients and 30 neurological controls by means of PCR, immunofluorescence microscopy, enzyme-linked fluorescence and antibody detection. Multiple sclerosis (9.3%) and neurological controls (13.3) had similar percentage of anti-C. pneumoniae antibodies. However, C. pneumoniae DNA was only detectable in MS patients' CSF (9.3%). Our data support the hypothesis that C. pneumoniae persistence in some MS patients may be the result of an impaired clearance within the central nervous system.

Key Words: Chlamydia pneumoniae • cerebrospinal fluid • multiple sclerosis • polymerase chain reaction

Multiple Sclerosis, Vol. 7, No. 6, 371-374 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/135245850100700605


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