Over the last 40 years, evidence has accumulated to suggest the ubiquitous presence of infections with intracellular bacteria of the genus Chlamydia in different livestock species. Different methods to clinical specimens substantiated such widespread, but mostly clinically unapparent, presumably low-level infections. In this initial epidemiological study, we addressed the question of chlamydial...

  Five hundred eighty patients underwent diagnostic flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy: during June 1988 to March 1993 at the bronchoscopy center of Kerman university of medical sciences. Seventy six specimens were obtained from patients with bronchogenic carcinoma and 155 from patients with benign disease of the lung. The efficiency of brushing and washing techniques was compared with forceps b...