Chronic infections and atherosclerosis.
The inability of traditional risk factors such as hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and smoking to explain the incidence of atherosclerosis (AT) in about 50% of the cases prompted a search for additional putative risk factors involved in the development of the disease. Infectious agents have long been suspected to initiate/contribute to the process of AT. It has also been suggested that inflammation, either related to infectious agents or independent from infection, may mediate the atherogenic process [1, 2].
Kis
Z
Z
Department of Medical Microbiology, Szeged University, Dóm tér 10, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary.
Burián
K
K
Virók
D
D
Kari
G
G
Endrész
V
V
Gönczöl
E
E
D000818:Animals; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D023521:Chlamydophila Infections / Q000150:complications; D016993:Chlamydophila pneumoniae / Q000472:pathogenicity; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000472:pathogenicity; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000150:complications; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000150:complications*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000150:complications; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000472:pathogenicity