CASE REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Severe Pneumonia Caused by Chlamydia psittaci and Aspergillus terreus: A Case Report
Provisionally accepted
Chuanli Zhang*
Jin Wang- Nanjing Jiangbei Hospital, Nanjing, China
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Chlamydia psittaci is a known cause of severe pneumonia and may be associated with invasive fungal co-infections; however, its complication by Aspergillus terreus is exceptionally rare. We report a case of a previously healthy 58-year-old woman with poultry exposure who presented with fever and dyspnea that rapidly progressed to respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. After initial empirical antibiotics failed, targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid concurrently identified Chlamydia psittaci and Aspergillus terreus, guiding successful targeted therapy with doxycycline and voriconazole, which led to full recovery. This case highlights the utility of tNGS in enabling rapid, simultaneous pathogen identification and guiding targeted therapy in severe pneumonia.
Keywords: Aspergillus terreus, case report, Chlamydia psittaci, Severe pneumonia, Targeted next-generation sequencing
Received: 20 Nov 2025; Accepted: 02 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Zhang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chuanli Zhang
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