Chlamydial pneumonia: not for babies only?

Chlamydia trachomatis was first described as a possible cause of pneumonia in an infant by Schachter et al 1 in 1975. Subsequently, Beem and Saxon 2 confirmed its role as a respiratory pathogen. It would be fair to say that C trachomatis is accepted as a common cause of pneumonia in infants younger than 6 months. Cases have been reported from Europe, 3,4 Israel, 5 and Canada, 6 as well as from the United States. The next logical question is whether C trachomatis can cause pneumonia in adults. There have been individual reports of the isolation of C trachomatis from the oropharynges of adults, usually in the context of experimental or natural-inclusion conjunctivitis or related to sexual practices. 7,8,9 Recently, Tack and colleagues 10 reported isolating C trachomatis from the lower respiratory tract of six adults, five of whom had pneumonia. In this issue ofThe Journal(p 1319), Komaroff