Impact of viral and bacterial infections in coronary artery disease patients

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is becoming an alarming disease for the existence of healthy human beings in the 21^st century. There are a growing number of agents, either modernized life style generated, competitive work culture related or infection with some bacterial or viral agents, documented every year. These infectious agents do not have proper diagnostics or detection availability in many poor and developing countries. Hence, as active medical researchers, we summarize some aspects of infectious agents and their related mechanisms in this review which may be beneficial for new beginners in this field and update awareness in the field of cardiovascular biology.

Keywords: Chlamydia pneumoniae; Helicobacter pylori; Cytomegalovirus; Cytokines; Diagnostics

Core tip: This paper describes the association of atherosclerosis with different infectious agents, specifically Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae), Helicobacter pylori, Herpes viruses and periodontal pathogens. There are many other bacteria and viruses, as well as life style related factors described and cited in this review. The manuscript also emphasizes how C. pneumoniae is modulating the human immune system with mimicking some antigenic proteins of the host. Overall, this report helps in the field of cardiac biology to explore associated risk factors in more detail.