Describe Infectious Agents ?

Recently there has been increasing interest in the relation between chronic low grade systemic inflammation and mortality of coronary artery disease. Evidences Prom laboratory, sero-epidemiological, pathological studies and lately from prospective clinical trials in unstable coronary syndromes, point to the strong association of chronic infections with aetiology and progression of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. Chronic subclinical infections with a number of organisms (both bacterial and viral) including Chlamydia pneumoniae, Cytomegalovirus, Helicobacter pylori, 1-Ierpes simplex virus etc., hove been implicated as risk factors for initiating and modulating the atherosclerotic process. Of these infectious agents, Chlamydia pneumoniae, common respisntory pathogen, appears to be the most plausible candidate acting with or independently of other Cardio-vascular risk factors. However, these arc number of questions concerning the extent to which these micro-organism play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and the matter still remains unsettled.