A lan Hudson likes to tell a story about a soldier and his high school sweetheart.
'THIS BIG, GOOFY-LOOKING DOOFUS OF A MICROBE'
Photo by Judith Wittnum-Hudson
That's what microbiologist Alan Hudson says the bacterium chlamydia looks like in its inactive, or persistent, form. The human cell shown above contains several developmental forms of the bacterium, which has persisted even after treatment with penicillin. The bacterium must be studied in cells because it cannot survive outside of them. Chlamydia trachomatis, which is sexually transmitted, is a major cause of infertility in developed countries. A nonsexually transmitted strain is a leading cause of blindness in undeveloped regions around the world.
The young man returns from an overseas assignment for their wedding with a clean bill of health, having dutifully cleared up an infection of sexually transmitted chlamydia.
