Bacteria, Virus Exposure Linked to Heart Disease

[Guest guest]

MEDLINEplus: Bacteria, Virus Exposure Linked to Heart Disease

- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_5591.html -

 

 

 

Bacteria, Virus Exposure Linked to Heart Disease

Reuters

 

Tuesday, January 8, 2002

 

 

NEW YORK, Jan 08 (Reuters Health) - Heart disease patients who have had a

greater exposure to bacteria and viruses tend to have more clogging in their

arteries and a worse prognosis than patients exposed to fewer infectious agents,

German researchers reported on Monday. The finding adds to the growing body of

evidence that inflammation and infection play a key role in the development of

atherosclerosis, the clogging of arteries that can lead to heart attacks.

 

The researchers, led by Dr. Christine Espinola-Klein from the University Clinic

Mainz, Germany, published their findings in the January 8 issue of Circulation:

Journal of the American Heart Association.

 

Their study included 572 patients who were admitted to the hospital for cardiac

catheterization, a technique used to locate blockages in arteries in people who

have had a heart attack or who are at risk for one. All the patients were tested

for antibodies--a sign of past infection--to several bacteria and viruses,

including herpes simplex virus 1 and 2, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus,

Haemophilus influenzae, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and

Helicobacter pylori.

 

Over the next three years or so, the researchers found that patients who had

four to five past infections were nearly twice as likely to have extensive

clogging in the arteries as those with fewer infections. Patients with six to

eight past infections were 2 to 3 times as likely to have advanced heart disease

as those with fewer infections, according to the report.

 

During the study, the cardiovascular death rate was 7% for patients with

advanced atherosclerosis with zero to three infections and 20% for those with

advanced atherosclerosis and six to eight infections, they add.

 

The researchers conclude that " we demonstrated that increasing numbers of

infectious pathogens were significantly related to the extent of atherosclerosis

and to adverse long-term outcome. Our results are compatible with the concept

that infections are involved in the development of atherosclerosis and that

infections with multiple pathogens may augment the risk conveyed by one

pathogen. "

 

However, the study cannot prove that the infections are the cause of the

advanced atherosclerosis, Dr. Paul M. Ridker from Brigham and Women's Hospital,

Boston, comments in a journal editorial. Indeed, other studies that looked at C.

pneumoniae and H. pylori infections in particular found little or no association

with atherosclerosis, he notes.

 

" Only a few years ago, there was virtually no clinical evidence that

inflammation played a fundamental role in atherothrombosis. It will take several

years more to discern what the triggers of that inflammation are and whether

infection is a key determinant of that response, " Ridker writes.

 

SOURCE: Circulation 2002;105:2-4,15-21.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related News:

a.. More news on Bacterial Infections

b.. More news on Heart Diseases (General)

c.. More news on Viral Infections

 

--

More News on this Date

--

 

Related MEDLINEplus Pages:

a.. Bacterial Infections

b.. Heart Diseases (General)

c.. Viral Infections

 

 

Health Topics | Drug Information | Dictionaries | Directories | Other

Resources | Home

U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894

Copyright, Privacy, Accessibility, We welcome your comments.

Last updated: 09 January 2002

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

-

" Elaine " <mem121

<Undisclosed-Recipient:@usermail.com;>

Thursday, February 07, 2002 5:18 AM

Bacteria, Virus Exposure Linked to Heart Disease

 

 

> The researchers conclude that " we demonstrated that increasing numbers of

infectious pathogens were significantly

related to the extent of atherosclerosis and to adverse long-term outcome. Our

results are compatible with the concept

that infections are involved in the development of atherosclerosis and that

infections with multiple pathogens may

augment the risk conveyed by one pathogen. "

 

Hi Elaine,

 

And one of the best anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral foods? The high

level of the Lauric fatty acid (c12:0)

found only in coconut oil............

 

Greg