Role of C. pneumoniae in severe asthma and COPD: Epidemiology and treatment

Abstract

Up to not long ago it was a common conception that bacterial infections play a minor role in asthma attacks [1]. Since the early 1990s the role of Chlamydia pneumoniae in exacerbations of asthma has been investigated. Hahn et al. [2] first reported a possible association between Chlamydia pneumoniae infection and adult-onset asthma. Later studies confirmed the etiological role of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in both adult and children asthma exacerbations [3–6]. In adults Chlamydia pneumoniae is reported to cause approximately 10 % of asthma exacerbations [3,6]. Most studies described patients with mild to moderate exacerbations whereas arecent study by our group, while confirming the role of this pathogen in mild to moderate asthma exacerbations, suggests that Chlamydia pneumoniae must also be considered as a cause of severe asthma attacks [7] (Table 1).