International specialists in Microbiology, Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, Cardiology Immunology, Pneumonology, Neurology and Epidemiology gathered to this workshop to discuss and enhance interdisciplinary knowledge on the possible etiological role of Chlamydia pneumoniae, a widespread human respiratory infection, in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases with major public health impact such as atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, adult-onset asthma bronchiale, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, reactive arthritis, morbus Alzheimer and multiple sclerosis. Current deficits and goals in the standardisation of diagnostic tools, basic and applied research, design of epidemiological and monitoring of therapy studies were identified. A special feature of this book is the comprehensive collection of state-of-the-art review articles in the various fields with many references.