The causal link between infectious diseases and heart disease
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US and is projected to be the leading cause of disability in the world by 2020. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University studied 900 heart disease patients and found that the more infectious agents patients tested positive for, the more likely they were to die of a heart attack. Researchers are not sure how infection causes heart disease, but hypothesize that it may have something to do with direct infection and inflammation of an artery wall. The healing of the infection results in plaque formation.
Infectious pathogens most closely linked to heart disease are:
* Chlamydia Pneumoniae: a common pathogen that is present in respiratory infections such as pneumonia, sinusitis and bronchitis. By age 30, 50% of people have been infected with chlamydia pneumoniae; by age 70, that number rises to 80%. Some researchers suggest that an uneventful chlamydia pneumoniae infection during childhood could start a chronic infection of the coronary arteries that goes unnoticed until a heart attack occurs 50 years after the fact.
* Helicobacter Pylori: In the gastrointestinal tract, H pylori infection has been associated with a chronic lowgrade infection. Researchers are now linking the bacteria to heart disease as well. In one British study, heart attacks were twice as common among people infected with H pylori than people not infected with the bacterium.