My Experiences

Untreatable disease Chlamydia

What is Chlamydia:
Chlamydiae are distinguishable from all other organisms by a unique developmental cycle which involves transition between 2 major morphologic forms. The infectious particle, called the elementary body (EB), attaches to susceptible host cells and is ingested by a process akin to receptor mediated endocytosis. It enters the cell within an endosome and remains there throughout the cycle. Chlamydiae inhibit phagolysosomal fusion. Approximately 6 -8 hours after entering the cell the EB changes to the reticulate body (RB, sometimes called an initial body) . This represents the metabolically active and reproductive form of the organism. RBs are not infectious. They divide by binary fission up to approximately 48 hours into the infectious cycle. At some time between 24-48 hours, some of the RBs reorganize again into EBs and thus become infectious. Ultimately, the cell will burst and the EBs exit the host cell to infect new cells. The full cycle will take approximately 48 hours for the more virulent LGV biovar; and 72-96 hours for the trachoma biovar.

C. trachomatis strains can be divided into three biovars. The murine biovar, and isolates from swine that meet the taxonomic criteria for C. trachomatis do not infect humans and will not be discussed further. The trachoma biovar is a pathogen of columnar and squamocolumnar cells and thus causes disease at mucous membranes, where such cells are found. These sites include conjunctivae, urethra, the endocervical canal, fallopian tubes, gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. The less common lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) biovar is more virulent. It is more invasive and can cause disease in many tissues. LGV strains will infect epithelial cells as the primary lesion for this infection is often in the skin. The organism will subsequently invade draining lymph nodes and cause the formation of bubos. The 2 biovars are readily differentiated in the laboratory as LGV strains are capable of cell to cell transmission in cell culture and are capable of lethal infection following intracranial inoculation in mice while the trachoma biovar is not lethal for mice by this route and does not grow well in cell culture systems. It requires mechanical assistance (centrifugation) for efficient infection.

There are several aspects of C. trachomatis microbiology that are relevant to treatment. The organism is an obligate intracellular parasite and is metabolically active only after it enters the host cell. The infectious EB is metabolically inert, and thus not affected by antibiotics. Therefore, only antibiotics that penetrate cells will be effective against C. trachomatis. Because the developmental cycle is so long (typically 2 -4 days), long courses of therapy are required. In addition, although C. trachomatis is a bacterium, it does not contain a peptidoglycan layer (structural rigidity appears to depend on disulfide binding among at least three outer membrane proteins). A lack of peptidoglycan predicts that ß-lactam antibiotics will not be effective in treating chlamydial infections. Experience has shown that these drugs are not efficient in treating C. trachomatis infections, although high doses and long courses of therapy may be active. C. trachomatis does contain penicillin binding sites and in vitro the action of penicillin is to induce large irregularly shaped reticulate particles, as the antibiotics appear to interfere with the division process.

Treatment of Chlamydia:
Amoxicillin can be used to treat Chlamydia infections but one needs to take 500mg three times a day.
Please see dosage details below.
Usual Adult Dose for Chlamydia Infection
500 mg orally 3 times a day for 7 days in pregnant patients as an alternative to erythromycin in macrolide-sensitive individuals

Amoxicillin does not have reliable activity against Chlamydia trachomatis.
(Marvel- Yahoo ans.)