Infection and temporal arteritis: a PCR-based study to detect pathogens in temporal artery biopsy specimens.

The possibility of infectious triggers stimulating the development of inflammatory vascular diseases has generated much recent interest. This study uses PCR to detect the presence of Chlamydia pneumoniae, parvovirus B19 and all the human herpes viruses except HHV8 in temporal artery biopsy specimens. Samples from 37 temporal artery biopsies with histological evidence of arteritis and 66 samples from histologically negative temporal artery biopsies, all from different patients, were negative for C.