Chlamydia pneumoniae Inflammation Heart Attack Germ

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WHAT IS THE HEART ATTACK GERM?

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A SHORT COURSE IN STROKES AND HEART ATTACKS

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New Research Links
Inflammation to Risk Factors

For many years, doctors knew that certain risk factors -- high blood pressure (hypertension), diabetes, cholesterol levels (HDL and LDL), smoking and obesity -- increased the probability of a stroke or heart attack...but they were uncertain exactly why. Now they know that inflammation is the key ingredient.

In the coming years, you will hear much more about the effect that inflammation has on the risk of stroke and heart attack. You'll also hear about the new inflammatory risk factors of C-Reactive Protein and fibrinogen. But there's no need to wait! Read The Heart Attack Germ now and learn how you can lower your risk of stroke and heart attack by detecting and reducing inflammation in your arteries!

A SHORT COURSE IN
STROKES AND HEART ATTACKS

Part 1 Strokes and Heart Attacks	Part 2 Inflammation, Germs and Atherosclerosis	Part 3 Spasm
Part 4 Blood Clots	Part 5 Stress	Part 6 Inflammation, Strokes and Alzheimer's
Part 2 Inflammation, Germs and Atherosclerosis

Inflammation is the body's response to injury. It's a protective mechanism that the body's uses to heal itself. The body uses inflammation to kill germs and repair tissues. Chlamydia pneumoniae -- the Heart Attack Germ -- is one of the germs known to infect arteries and cause inflammation.

Atherosclerosis is a disease of the arteries that is characterized by the deposition of cholesterol plaque within the artery. Cholesterol plaque, of course, sets the stage for most strokes and heart attacks.

The latest research has proven a link between inflammation and atherosclerosis. In fact, it's now known that inflammation is responsible for the birth and growth of atherosclerosis. Here's how.

Cholesterol plaque begins, not as a disease, but as a normal, healthy response by the body. Cholesterol plaque contains many of the inflammatory elements that are designed to destroy infectious germs such as Chlamydia pneumoniae - the Heart Attack Germ - and repair damaged tissue. These elements are drawn to injured and infected arteries as part of the healing process.

One of the most important inflammatory elements are cells from the immune system called macrophages. As the animation above illustrates, when the wall of an artery is injured, these immune cells travel to the site of the injury and burrow into the artery wall. They produce healing inflammation in the surrounding tissue, which kills germs and repairs cells.

Unfortunately, immune cells can also be infected by germs such as Chlamydia pneumoniae. When immune cells burrow inside the artery, they carry the germ with them, creating more infection in the artery.

Even worse, infected immune cells can suck particles of cholesterol from the blood stream and carry them into the artery wall.

Inflammation is designed to be helpful only in the short-term; long-term episodes of inflammation can do great damage to the body. Since plaque is naturally drawn to the site of inflammation, long-term infection and inflammation continually draws cholesterol plaque to the artery over an extended period of time.

As the years pass by -- and infection and inflammation secretly simmer away inside their unsuspecting victims -- layer after layer of plaque is deposited inside the artery. These layers build into mounds of cholesterol that reduce the flow of blood through the artery, eventually causing many of the symptoms of cardiovascular disease, including strokes and heart attacks.

Fortunately, there's a new test you can take that measures the levels of chronic inflammation in your bloodstream. This test - called hs-CRP or high-sensitivity C-reactive protein - is a more accurate predictor of heart attack than cholesterol levels, even in people who are currently healthy.

For a full discussion of C-reactive protein and the link between inflammation and atherosclerosis, and how you can protect yourself from this deadly combination, read The Heart Attack Germ or continue forward to Part 3 - Spasm.

Part 1 Strokes and Heart Attacks	Part 2 Inflammation, Germs and Atherosclerosis	Part 3 Spasm
Part 4 Blood Clots	Part 5 Stress	Part 6 Inflammation, Strokes and Alzheimer's
HOME	WHAT IS THE HEART ATTACK GERM?	THIS JUST IN . . .