Chlamydia

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Pathology

obligate intracellular parasites
they have DNA, RNA, ribosomes & a cell wall similar to gram negative bacteria
two forms are common to all species of Chlamydia:
- extracellular elementary body
- intracellular reticulate body
elementary body is the infective form transmitted from one person to another
lementary bodies attach to appropriate target cells, generally columnar or transitional epithelial cells, & gain access to the intracellular compartment within phagosomes
within 8 hours, the elementary bodies reorganize into reticulate bodies, the obligate intracellular & reproductive form
reticulate forms undergo binary fission producing numerous replicates contained within a membrane-bound "inclusion body"
after 24 hours, the reticulate bodies condense to form elementary bodies within the inclusion
the inclusion ruptures, presumably secondary to relaxation of inhibitory effects on lysosomal fusion, disrupting the cell & releasing elementary bodies for infectious spread

↑ Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 14th ed. Fauci et al (eds), McGraw-Hill Inc. NY, 1998, pg 1055-64