Construction of an internal control for the detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae by PCR.

Ursi D,      Ieven M,      Van Bever HP,      Goossens H     

Chlamydia pneumoniae
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Asthma
Bronchiolitis
Child
Child, Preschool

Chlamydia Infections
DNA Primers
DNA, Bacterial
Human
Reference Standards
Retrospective Studies

Abstract
For the detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in respiratory samples, an internal control was constructed to monitor the efficiency of amplification in each reaction.  The internal control was designed in a way that the same primer pair can be used to amplify the internal control and target DNA.  Nasopharyngeal aspirates of children suffering from asthma(> 2 years of age; 24 patients) or bronchiolitis (< 2 years of age; 47 patients) were analysed for the presence of C. pneumoniae, using the internal control in each amplification reaction.  Two specimens from asthma patients, both children of 8 years old, were positive for C. pneumoniae.  The number of cases studied is too small to draw conclusions regarding the incidence of C. pneumoniae in different age categories in children.

Department of Microbiology
University Hospital Antwerp
Edegem
Belgium.