title: Chronic infections and atherosclerosis.
abstract: 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].
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Szeged University, Dóm tér 10, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kis
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Burián
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Virók
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kari
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Endrész
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gönczöl
mesh_terms: 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