Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in a breeding colony of African clawed frogs (Xenopus tropicalis).

More than 90% of a breeding colony of clawed frogs (Xenopus tropicalis) imported to the United States from western Africa died in an epizootic of chlamydiosis. Chlamydial inclusions were observed by light and electron microscopy in the liver of an infected frog. Chlamydia pneumoniae was isolated in cell cultures from four frogs. A cutaneous infection by a chytridiomycete fungus observed in two frogs could have been a cofactor in the die-off.ous Diseases