Chlamydia pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects humans, commonly causing pharyngitis, bronchitis and atypical pneumonia. It is also implicated in causing coronary artery disease. It is an obligate intracellular pathogen whose resistant elementary body (EB) form exists between human and animal hosts. As such, cell culture is required to isolate the microorganism.
ViroStat has now introduced three new monoclonal antibodies that are specific to C. pneumoniae and do not cross-react with the related C. trachomatis and C. psittaci. They function in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and are candidates for rapid test applications.