| abstract |
The present invention relates to the discovery of a novel intracellular bacterium in hamsters with transmissible proliferative ileitis. This novel intracellular bacterium has been isolated in purified form and, on the basis of phylogenetic analysis, has been determined to possess 95 % similarity to Chlamydia psittaci and 98 % similarity to Chlamydia trachomatis. Thus, it has been discovered that the 'Campylobacter-like organisms' long implicated in proliferative ileitis in hamsters, and likely in proliferative bowel diseases in other species as well, are not members of Campylobacter genus at all, but rather appear to be a novel species of Chlamydia. |