Chlamydia pneumoniae and chronic diseases : proceedings of the state-of-the-art workshop, held at the Robert Koch-Institut Berlin, on 19 and 20 March 1999

International specialists in Microbiology, Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Cardiology Immunology, Pneumonolgy, Neurology and Epidemiology gathered to this workshop to discuss and enhance interdisciplinary knowledge on the possible etiological role of Chlamydia pneumoniae, a widespread human respiratory infection, in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases with major public health impact such as: - atherosclerosis, - cardiovascular disease, - adult onset asthma bronchiale, - chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, - reactive arthritis, - Morbus Alzheimer and - Multiple Sclerosis. Current deficits and goals in standardisation of diagnostic tools, basic and applied research, design of epidemiological and monitoring of therapy studies were identified. A special feature of this book is the comprehensive collection of state of the art review articles in the various fields with many references and the enclosure of the controverse discussions to each article which provides the reader with a lifely picture on the role of Chlamydia pneumoniae in chronic diseases Front Matter....Pages I-XVI Introduction....Pages 1-2 Pathogenic mechanisms of chronic Chlamydia infections ....Pages 3-7 Biology, immunology and persistence of Chlamydia pneumoniae : Links to chronic disease....Pages 8-18 Animal models for Chlamydia pneumoniae infection....Pages 19-24 Molecular biology and serodiagnostics of Chlamydia pneumoniae — potential way to a vaccine....Pages 25-31 Direct detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae in atherosclerotic plaques....Pages 33-41 Detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae DNA in white blood cells....Pages 42-47 Detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae in clinical specimens by PCR-EIA....Pages 48-51 State of the art in the diagnosis of acute and chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection....Pages 52-61 Epidemiological data on respiratory tract infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae and clinical complications....Pages 63-67 Role of C. pneumoniae in severe asthma and COPD: Epidemiology and treatment....Pages 68-72 Chlamydia pneumoniae in atherosclerosis....Pages 73-83 Prevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae in human coronary plaques with acute coronary syndrome....Pages 84-90 Chlamydial lipopolysaccharide and atherosclerosis....Pages 91-96 Clinical trial designs to study antibiotic intervention in atherosclerosis....Pages 97-102 Why antibiotics against Chlamydia pneumoniae for treatment of atherosclerotic disease could fail....Pages 103-107 Atherosclerosis: Why the search for a causative infectious agent is not warranted....Pages 108-111 Chlamydia infections and arthritis....Pages 112-120 Chlamydia pneumoniae , APOE genotype, and Alzheimer’s disease....Pages 121-136 Association of Chlamydia pneumoniae with Multiple Sclerosis: Protocol for detection of C. pneumoniae in the CSF and summary of preliminary results....Pages 137-152 Trends and variations of chronic diseases in populations — Can infectious agents help to solve the puzzles?....Pages 153-162 The epidemiology of Chlamydia pneumoniae versus the epidemiology of potential Chlamydial diseases (Atherosclerosis, Multiple Sclerosis, M. Alzheimer)....Pages 163-170 The high male mortality of coronary heart diseases can be explained as a result of chronic infection....Pages 171-177 The Spandauer Gesundheitstest — Retrospective cohort study on Chlamydia pneumoniae infections and cardiovascular disease — A study concept....Pages 178-183 Public health impact of atherosclerosis and Chlamydia pneumoniae infections — What do we know and what to expect from future research....Pages 184-192 Final Discussion: Pro and Contra the Role of Chlamydia pneumoniae in Chronic Diseases....Pages 193-203 International specialists in Microbiology, Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Cardiology Immunology, Pneumonology, Neurology and Epidemiology gathered to this workshop to discuss and enhance interdisciplinary knowledge on the possible etiological role of Chlamydia pneumoniae, a widespread human respiratory infection, in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases with major public health impact such as atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, adult-onset asthma bronchiale, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, reactive arthritis, morbus Alzheimer and multiple sclerosis. Current deficits and goals in the standardisation of diagnostic tools, basic and applied research, design of epidemiological and monitoring of therapy studies were identified. A special feature of this book is the comprehensive collection of state-of-the-art review articles in the various fields with many references. International specialists in microbiology, infectious diseases, cardiology immunology and other specialties gathered to this workshop to discuss the possible aetiological role of Chlamydia pneumoniae in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases with major public health impact. Dear colleagues, I would very much like to welcome all of you to this special non-public state-of-the-art workshop about Chlamydia pneumoniae and chronic diseases.