AUTHOR=Wons Juliana , Meiller Ralph , Bergua Antonio , Bogdan Christian , Geißdörfer Walter 

TITLE=Follicular Conjunctivitis due to Chlamydia felis—Case Report, Review of the Literature and Improved Molecular Diagnostics

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=4

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2017.00105

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2017.00105

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=<p>A 29-year-old woman presented with unilateral, chronic follicular conjunctivitis since 6 weeks. While the conjunctival swab taken from the patient’s eye was negative in a <italic>Chlamydia (C.) trachomatis</italic>-specific PCR, <italic>C. felis</italic> was identified as etiological agent using a pan-<italic>Chlamydia</italic> TaqMan-PCR followed by sequence analysis. A pet kitten of the patient was found to be the source of infection, as its conjunctival and pharyngeal swabs were also positive for <italic>C. felis</italic>. The patient was successfully treated with systemic doxycycline. This report, which presents one of the few documented cases of human <italic>C. felis</italic> infection, illustrates that standard PCR tests are designed to detect the most frequently seen species of a bacterial genus but might fail to be reactive with less common species. We developed a modified pan-<italic>Chlamydia</italic>/<italic>C. felis</italic> duplex TaqMan-PCR assay that detects <italic>C. felis</italic> without the need of subsequent sequencing. The role of chlamydiae-specific serum antibody titers for the diagnosis of follicular conjunctivitis is discussed.</p>