Diagnosis of Chlamydia pneumoniae.

This paper considers the use of diagnostic techniques for Chlamydia pneumoniae in both acute and chronic infections, together with the detection of upper respiratory tract carriage. It is concluded that such diagnosis is still unsatisfactory, although techniques for acute infection are more reliable than those for chronic conditions. Reliable and inexpensive methods, particularly for the diagnosis of chronic C. pneumoniae infection, are urgently needed, if only because of the recent demonstration of the beneficial effects of antibiotic treatment in patients with atherosclerosis carrying markers for the presence of this organism.