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Chlamydia pneumoniae—a common bacterium that causes pneumonia and sinus infections—can linger in the eye and brain for years and may aggravate Alzheimer's disease, according to a study. The discovery suggests this bacterium can amplify Alzheimer's disease and points to potential interventions including inflammation-limiting therapies and early antibiotic treatment. The study shows for the first time that Chlamydia pneumoniae can reach the retina—the tissue lining the back of the eye—where it triggers immune responses linked to inflammation, nerve cell death and cognitive decline. "Seeing Chlamydia pneumoniae consistently across human tissues, cell cultures and animal models allowed us to identify a previously...

NEW ORLEANS, LA – May 23, 2011 -- People with severe asthma are more likely to have antibodies against the disease-causing bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae than the general population and in some cases antibiotic treatment can greatly improve symptoms according to research presented today at the 111th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. "We conclude that a subset of severe asthmatics harbor infectious C. pneumoniae in their lungs, resulting in antibody production and increased asthma severity," says Eduard Drizik of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who presented the study. Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease, whose causes are not...

A bacterium linked to heart disease may also be a factor in age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people over 55 in the United States. A new study has found the organism, Chlamydia pneumoniae, in the eye tissue of 6 of 9 patients with macular degeneration, but in none of 22 who did not have the disorder. The paper, based on work carried out at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, was published in the November issue of Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. Most vision loss in age-related macular degeneration is caused by...