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CPn as a cause of recurrent optic neuritis in a twelve year old boy.

http://tinyurl.com/qk33f

Pohl D, Rostasy K, Gieffers J, Maass M, Hanefeld F.
Department of Paediatrics and Paediatric Neurology, Georg August University Gottingen, Germany.

It has been suggested that Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) is involved in the pathogenesis of diverse diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), including multiple sclerosis. We report the case of a 12-year-old male with isolated recurrent optic neuritis and an associated CNS infection with C. pneumoniae. The patient presented with three attacks of optic neuritis within 5 months. A positive polymerase chain reaction for C. pneumoniae in the cerebrospinal fluid led to the diagnosis of a CNS infection with C. pneumoniae. After treatment with the antibiotic rifampicin, he experienced no further attacks during the follow-up period of 6 years. These findings suggest the possibility of a C. pneumoniae infection as a contributing factor or even causative event for the development of optic neuritis.

Dev Med Child Neurol. 2006 Sep;48(9):770-2.

PMID: 16904026 [PubMed - in process]


I thought this was interesting because optic neuritis is the first symptom of so many people with MS.

Sarah

Gosh what a great paper! a connection is certainly suggested ...
marie

Wow, Sarah, that really is an eye-opener.

On a complete tangent I wonder how drugs which use a copaxone-type mechanism work in suppressing MS. There's another drug in the drug pipeline forum called MBP8298 which suppresses progression in a phase II trial. It seems very odd that adding myelin basic protein to one's mix should suppress relapses and suppression. The MBP apparently acts as a decoy for our rogue B and T cells. If there is bacterial involvement I can't think why MBP would help suppress that.....mmmm.