Chlamydia Pneumonia Infection As A Risk Factor for Coronary Heart Disease

Abstract

Coronary heart disease is a major health problem being the single important entity in many industrialized countries and even developing countries, in terms of both mortality and morbidity. It is usually due to atherosclerosis. The histopathology of atherosclerosis and its natural history suggest infectious causation at many points along the progression of the disease, particularly with regard to CHD. Number of pathogens have been the focus of many studies.

C. pneumoniae (gram -ve bacteria) is able to infect endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells. evoking pathological reactions of these cells which may lead to atherosclerosis, arterial thrombosis and plaque rupture.

This study was conducted on 60 male patients, their ages ranged from 50 to 70 years (40 patients with coronary heart disease and 20 patients with three or more risk factors for CHD. in addition to 20 male healthy subjects without known risk factors for CHD, as a control group.

Chlamydia pneumoniae infection was tested using specific antibodies by ELISA. C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen were measured as acute phase proteins. In our results it was found that C. pneumoniae lgG titre showed no significant differences between different