Chlamydial infections
Chlamydophila felis in humans
Baker (1942) reported a number of
atypical pneumonia cases in humans exposed to cats infected with chlamydial disease.
Antibodies to the feline pneumonitis agent were demonstrated in the sera from the affected humans. Later,
Schachter
et al., (1969) described a human case of acute follicular conjunctivitis in the owner of several infected cats. Chlamydiae were isolated from the
cat and from its owner. The latter became ill soon after the household cat developed conjunctivitis and
rhinitis. The isolate from the patient was used to experimentally reproduce conjunctivitis in an uninfected cat.
Other reports indicate that C. felis infections from cats can cause more generalised systemic infection in humans,
including endocarditis and
glomerulonephritis
(Regan et al., 1978). More
recently, a case of chronic conjunctivitis due to C. felis was
reported in a human. Isolates of C. felis from the human and family cat were
apparently identical (Hartley et al.,
2001). A prolonged course of doxycycline treatment was needed to eradicate the infection in the human.
C. felis infection should be suspected
in humans if acute follicular conjunctivitis or atypical pneumonia develops1-3 weeks after being in contact with a sick
cat. Vaccination of cats against feline chlamydiosis should reduce human exposure to
C. felis infection.
NEXT: C. felis lab
diagnosis
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