Master Chlamydia Characteristics with Picmonic for Medicine

Chlamydia lacks the ability to make ATP and, therefore, cannot survive on its own. Consequently, it is an obligate intracellular bacterium.

Elementary bodies are bacterial life cycle components that can exist outside the body and are infective by attaching and entering host cells.

Epithelial cells are the classic target of chlamydia infections, and they are able to form reticulate bodies within the cells.

Reticulate bodies replicate within the cell by binary fission, resulting in a large inclusion body. The reticulate body is the replicating component of the bacterial life cycle.

The cell wall lacks muramic acid. Therefore, these organisms do not stain with gram stain.

Giemsa stain can lead to a diagnosis of chlamydia infection with the visualization of cytoplasmic inclusions on the Giemsa stain.

Multiple reticulate bodies replicate in the cell by binary fission, which creates a cytoplasmic inclusion within the infected cell. These inclusions can be seen on Giemsa stain.

Doxycycline is the preferred treatment of choice for Chlamydia due to its superior efficacy. It’s given 100 mg orally 2 times/day for 7 days.

Azithromycin is also used to treat a chlamydia infection but has lesser efficacy than Doxycycline. However, it only requires a single dosing. Azithromycin is a macrolide antibiotic.