Comparison of some ovine Chlamydia psittaci isolates by indirect immunofluorescence

Four ovine abortion isolates, including the A22 vaccine isolate, and an isolate from a case of lamb arthritis, were compared by indirect immunofluorescence using antisera raised in chickens and mice. Cross titrations with homologous and heterologous antisera showed a one-way reaction between the single chlamydial isolate from a lamb with arthritis and the four isolates from cases of ovine enzootic abortion. The abortion isolates could not be distinguished.

Zoonoses acquired from pet birds

The diagnosis, treatment, pathology, and epidemiology of psittacosis, the principal zoonotic disease contractible from birds, in human beings and in birds is discussed at length. Salmonellosis, toxoplasmosis, and allergic alveolitis are also considered. Several bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic organisms are mentioned as potential zoonoses.

Comparison of the virulence in mice of some ovine isolates of Chlamydia psittaci

Virulence associated with five ovine isolates of Chlamydia psittaci was compared using a mouse model. Comparable doses of each isolate were inoculated via the footpad into separate groups of 6-week-old mice. Four isolates from abortion were judged more virulent than an isolate from arthritis because of their ability to migrate from the site of infection to the spleen. Similar results were obtained using three different mouse strains. Re-isolation of C. psittaci indicated variation in susceptibility to infection between different mouse strains.

Intracerebral infection of mice with ovine strains of Chlamydia psittaci: an animal screening test for the assay of vaccines

Intracerebral inoculation of mice with the A22 strain of ovine C. psittaci gave a reproducible non-lethal infection; multiplication of the inoculum could be quantitated by titration of mouse brain extracts in tissue culture. Mice which had recovered from infection, or which had been inoculated subcutaneously with living organisms of A22 strain, showed solid resistance to intracerebral challenge infection. However, subcutaneous inoculation of formalin-inactivated chlamydia showed little protective effect unless given in very high dosage. Inactivated vaccines of the heterologous ZC113 strain gave better, but still incomplete, protection against A22 challenge infection than did the homologous inactivated vaccine. The implication of these findings is discussed. The mouse intracerebral protection test appears to be a suitable laboratory procedure for assessing the potency of vaccines against enzootic ewe abortion and for comparing the immunological cross-protection between the various strains of C. psittaci currently found in the natural disease in sheep.

Distinguishing between ovine abortion and ovine arthritis Chlamydia psittaci isolates with specific monoclonal antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies to Chlamydia psittaci were prepared by both in vivo and in vitro immunization methods, using an abortion strain of C psittaci as the immunizing antigen. Seven of the 8 monoclonal antibodies produced were genus-specific by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunofluorescence test. The genus-specific antibodies were reactive with a protease-resistant, periodate-sensitive antigen of less than 14 kilodaltons. The remaining monoclonal antibody, 10D7, was specific for ovine abortion strains of C psittaci and nonreactive with 2 strains isolated from the joints of lambs with polyarthritis. The type-specific antigen was protease sensitive, but could not be detected in the immunoblot assay.

Rapid detection of Chlamydia psittaci in vaginal swabs of aborted ewes and goats by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

An enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of Chlamydia psittaci in vaginal swabs of aborted ewes and goats has been developed using microtiter plates coated with sheep anti-Chlamydia immunoglobulin G. This technique was compared to the direct isolation of the agent by plaque assay on McCoy cells. Among 89 specimens from animals in infected flocks, 58 were positive by both methods, seven were only positive by ELISA, and nine others were only positive by direct isolation (plaque assay). None of the 75 specimens from animals in healthy flocks gave a positive response in ELISA or the plaque assay. Unlike direct isolation in cell culture, the ELISA technique permitted the detection of Chlamydia even in the absence of special care in sampling and conservation of specimens.

Chlamydial infections

Chlamydiae are small bacteria that have a unique life cycle. There are two species, Chlamydia psittaci and C. trachomatis, which cause a wide spectrum of clinical disease, including neonatal conjunctivitis and pneumonia, sexually transmitted disease, psittacosis, and trachoma. The importance of chlamydial disease in public health is being increasingly recognized, and the incidence in developed countries seems to be increasing. An understanding of chlamydial disease, its prevention and treatment, is essential for the infection control practitioner, who can play a significant role in patient education.

Abortion due to infection with Chlamydia psittaci in a sheep farmer's wife

A farmer's wife who had helped with lambing aborted spontaneously in March after a short febrile illness in the 28th week of her pregnancy. She developed disseminated intravascular coagulation post partum with acute renal failure and pulmonary oedema. Recovery was complete after two weeks of hospital care. A strain of Chlamydia psittaci, probably of ovine origin, was isolated from the placenta and fetus. The patient's serum showed rising titres of antibody against chlamydia group antigen; the placental and fetal isolates; and a known ovine abortion, but not a known avian, strain of C psittaci. IgG against both ovine abortion and enteric strains of C psittaci was detected, but IgM against only an abortion strain was detected. Histological examination showed pronounced intervillus placentitis with chlamydial inclusions in the trophoblast but no evidence of fetal infection or amnionitis. Laboratory evidence of chlamydial infection was found in an aborting ewe on the farm in January and in remaining sheep and lambs in July. Doctors should recognise the possible risk to pregnant women in rural areas where chlamydial infections in farm animals are widespread.

Chlamydia psittaci experimental abortion in goats

To study abortive chlamydiosis in goats, 11 pregnant goats were inoculated intradermally at the 3rd month of pregnancy with 2 X 10(7) or 2 X 10(6) plaque-forming units of a strain of Chlamydia psittaci isolated from naturally occurring abortions in goats. The 11 inoculated does aborted 24 to 56 days after they were inoculated and shed Chlamydia. This shedding began at least 9 days before abortion (1 goat) and persisted 12 days after abortion (1 goat). Retained placenta or metritis were observed in 4 of the goats.

Isolation of Chlamydia psittaci from cases of conjunctivitis in a colony of cats

This report describes the isolation in cell cultures of Chlamydia psittaci from cases of conjunctivitis in a colony of cats. The organism was identified in McCoy cell monolayers by staining the intracytoplasmic chlamydial inclusions with a fluorescent antibody technique, and serological evidence of chlamydial infection in cats was obtained by indirect immunofluorescence. The possible role of C psittaci as an ocular, upper respiratory and reproductive tract pathogen in cats is discussed.

Simple transport medium for the isolation of Chlamydia psittaci from clinical material

Infectious elementary bodies of Chlamydia psittaci in tissue samples from field cases of enzootic abortion were placed in five different transport media (A to E). In one medium, in the absence of refrigerative storage, the organism remained viable for 30 days and at 4 degrees C for 34 days. This was medium D; it consisted of sucrose (74.6 g/litre), K2HPO4 (1.237 g/litre), L-glutamic acid (0.721 g/litre), fetal calf serum (10 per cent v/v), vancomycin and streptomycin (100 micrograms/ml) and nystatin and gentamicin (50 micrograms/ml). Samples of this transport medium were supplied to veterinary investigation centres throughout the UK. Of 1862 samples submitted for diagnosis of enzootic abortion only 1.55 per cent were so contaminated that chlamydiae could not be detected. This transport medium permits the isolation of C psittaci from clinical material for up to about one month, even in the absence of conventional storage facilities.

In vitro and in vivo properties of chemically induced temperature-sensitive mutants of Chlamydia psittaci var. ovis: screening in a murine model

Two temperature-sensitive (ts) strains, 1B and 1H, were obtained after nitrosoguanidine treatment of the wild-type virulent abortive ovine strain Chlamydia psittaci AB7. Optimum growth temperature on McCoy cells was 38 degrees C for the three strains, but at the restrictive temperature, 39.5 degrees C, ts strains differed from the parental strain in their total infective yield of chlamydiae, their efficiency of plating, and the morphology of the plaques and cytoplasmic inclusions. Their survival at 51 degrees C was also reduced compared with that of the wild field strains. The virulence of the two ts strains was attenuated for pregnant mice, but these two ts strains were able to multiply in mice and to induce a strong immunity to virulent challenge with either the parental AB7 strain or the caprine or bovine abortive field strains.

Gamma-interferon is the factor in lymphokine that activates human macrophages to inhibit intracellular Chlamydia psittaci replication

We have demonstrated previously that mitogen-induced lymphokines activate human monocyte-derived macrophages to inhibit the intracellular replication of Chlamydia psittaci. To identify the factor(s) in crude lymphokines responsible for this antimicrobial effect, we tested human Con A-induced lymphokines for interferon activity. We also attempted to neutralize the lymphokines with a monoclonal antibody directed against human gamma-interferon and examined the ability of partially purified human gamma-interferon to induce macrophage antichlamydial activity. The lymphokine-induced antichlamydial effect was measured by the inhibition of chlamydial inclusion formation in Giemsa-stained macrophage cultures. Our lymphokines were found to be rich in gamma-interferon; treatment of cells for 48 hr before infection with lymphokines containing 300 U/ml of interferon resulted in an 89% inhibition of chlamydial growth. This lymphokine effect was completely abolished by monoclonal antibody against human gamma-interferon, but not by antisera against human alpha- or beta-interferons. In addition, partially purified human gamma-interferon alone induced macrophages to restrict chlamydial growth by 95%. We conclude that it is the gamma-interferon present in human Con A-induced lymphokines that activates monocyte-derived macrophages to inhibit chlamydial replication.

Direct isolation of the agent of enzootic abortion of ewes (Chlamydia psittaci) in cell cultures

Isolation of Chlamydia psittaci in McCoy cell coverslip cultures from clinical material from field cases of enzootic abortion of ewes proved more sensitive than diagnosis by examination of smears stained by Ziehl-Neelsen. Enzootic abortion could be diagnosed in the absence of fetal membranes by culture of fetal lung or liver tissue.

Isolation of Chlamydia psittaci from naturally infected African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis)

An inclusion-forming agent was isolated from the livers of commercially raised African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) involved in an epizootic of high morbidity and mortality. Original isolation was made in McCoy cells. This agent was identified as Chlamydia psittaci based on the formation of typical intracytoplasmic inclusions which developed within 48 h, were not stained by iodine, and were resistant to sulfadiazine. The isolate from one particular frog (designated as strain 178) was further studied and found to be lethal for 7-day-old embryonated chicken eggs after intra-yolk sac inoculation. This strain was demonstrated not to be pathogenic for mice when inoculated intraperitoneally. The cell culture isolate of C. psittaci was transmitted to uninfected X. laevis, causing disease and death.