This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Other Versions of this Article: JCM.01726-06v1 45/2/392    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kumar, S. Articles by Hammerschlag, M. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kumar, S. Articles by Hammerschlag, M. R.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2007, p. 392-394, Vol. 45, No. 2
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.01726-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Isolation and Antimicrobial Susceptibilities of Chlamydial Isolates from Western Barred Bandicoots

Swati Kumar,^1*, Andrei Kutlin,^1, Patricia Roblin,¹ Stephan Kohlhoff,¹ Tracey Bodetti,² Peter Timms,² and Margaret R. Hammerschlag¹

Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, 450 Clarkson Ave., Brooklyn, New York 11203,¹ School of Life Sciences, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland 4000, Australia²

Received 21 August 2006/ Returned for modification 10 October 2006/ Accepted 7 November 2006

A range of species of Chlamydiales have previously been detected in a variety of Australian marsupials, including koalas and western barred bandicoots. Thirty-seven ocular, urogenital, or nasal swabs were obtained from 21 wild western barred bandicoots. Chlamydia culture and antibiotic susceptibility testing were performed for cycloheximide-treated HEp-2 cells in 96-well microtiter plates. Chlamydia spp. were isolated from 11 specimens from 9 (42.8%) bandicoots. All isolates were identified as Chlamydiales by conventional PCR with 16S and 23S rRNA gene primers specific to Chlamydiales and were confirmed to be Chlamydia pneumoniae by a C. pneumoniae-specific ompA-based real-time PCR assay and 16S rRNA and 23S rRNA gene signature sequence analyses. The MICs of azithromycin, doxycycline, ciprofloxacin, and enrofloxacin for 10 C. pneumoniae isolates from these bandicoots ranged from 0.015 to 1 µg/ml, 0.25 to 1 µg/ml, 0.25 to 2 µg/ml, and 0.25 to 0.5 µg/ml, respectively. The MICs at which 90% of isolates were inhibited and the minimal bactericidal concentrations were within the ranges reported previously for human isolates of C. pneumoniae.

Published ahead of print on 22 November 2006.

S.K. and A.K. contributed equally to this work.