Chlamydia has been identified as the cause of a pneumonia outbreak that hit six cities in south China's Guangdong Province recently, experts said Tuesday.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in cooperation with the Guangdong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, found chlamydia, a virus-like bacteria, in two specimens taken from the lungs of patients who died from the strain of pneumonia.

The particles of chlamydia in the lung cell plasma were also very typical, the two centers said in a report.

Center experts said chlamydia could spread through secretions from the respiratory tract, aerosols, or exposure to patients and birds infected with the pneumonia.

Clinical symptoms of patients infected with chlamydia were pneumonia and bronchitis, said the experts.

Guangdong provincial government officials said that by February 12, a total of 305 patients had been infected with the atypical pneumonia, with five deaths reported.

They said the epidemic has been brought under control, with no cases reported since last Monday.

The experts said some antibiotics could be very effective in treating chlamaydia-related pneumonia if given in sufficient quantity over a sufficient period of time.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2003)