Can Pneumonia Lead to Heart Disease?

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Can Pneumonia Lead to Heart Disease?

Chlamydia pneumoniae

Other infectious microorganisms besides H. pylori have been investigated for their possible role in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease (CHD). One of these is the bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae, which is a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia and bronchitis. Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular parasite mainly acting as respiratory pathogen.

One study of C. pneumoniae in this regard was a case-control study that used data from the Helsinki Heart Study, which was originally designed to examine the effectiveness of the drug gemfibrozil in treating CHD.1 The researchers examined data from 143 CHD patients and 103 controls. The results suggested that chronic C. pneumoniae infection might be a significant risk factor for the development of CHD. Other studies, however, have not found a significant association between C. pneumoniae infection and heart disease.2

Incidentally, microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, or fungi) that cause pneumonia can more easily survive and multiply in the respiratory system when periodontal infection has the upper hand. This is also true of other pathogenic microorganisms, such as those responsible for bronchitis. Because mastic, especially when used as a chewing gum, has been found to reduce the levels of oral bacteria in the upper gastrointestinal tract, it is conceivable that its regular use might lessen the chances of upper respiratory tract infections. Confirming studies are needed.

So what is one to make of the contradictory evidence described above? Well, it’s always useful to remember that medical research is both art and science, neither of them perfect, and different researchers can reach different conclusions from the same evidence. And since some evidence does indicate that infectious agents such as H. pylori and C. pneumoniae may somehow be involved in the complex origins of CHD, it makes sense to try to avoid them.

http://www.utopiasilver.com/emailtem...s/h-pylori.htm

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Rosaceaii is another one of those diseasesi which is considered "incurable" by standard medicine. We are very grateful to have had Red join us on www.Cpnhelp.org and demonstrate that this disease also had it's roots in Chlamydia pneumoniae infection. Red also portrays the intelligent, questing mind that has lead many of us to keep searching for some answer to diseases which standard medicine has little to offer in terms of cure. He is one of the true pioneers in Cpni treatment.

http://www.cpnhelp.org/?q=facing_cure_reds_rosacea_

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Emerging information about chlamydia pneumoniae in disease & its treatment. Passing help forward!

http://www.cpnhelp.org/patient_stories

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Blood tests for Chlamydia pneumoniae and Mycoplasma

A lot of new techniques have no doubt occurred in lab testing since I was tested in 1996. The following information is about the tests I took and about several labs I found on the internet that will test for Chlamydia pneumoniae.

The type of blood test I received in 1996 was a Chlamydia pneumoniae AB Panel and is used to test for antibody's in your blood. The presence of antibody's in your blood means that your body was fighting this bacteria at one time. I took the test at Corning Clinical Laboratory in Tampa and they sent it to MRL Laboratory in Cypress California (800) 445-0185 (in 1996) for processing.

However, the modern tests for Chlamydia pneumoniae are the PCR tests.

PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) testing facilities

For best price and high quality the tests could be ordered through International Molecular Diagnostics, Inc., 15162 Triton Lane, Huntington Beach, CA 92649 USA. Tel: 714-799-7177, ext. 202 (Client Services) or ext. 204 (Brant Blasingame).

Order forms and additional information are available upon request. Tests must be ordered by a physician. The IMD website is at http://www.imd-lab.com/testing.htm On this site you will find additional information about testing and disease.

The Institute for Molecular Medicine website is www.immed.org. On this site you will find publications and documents on CFS/ME, FMS, autoimmune diseases and other chronic illnesses. Immediate Fax-back information is available 24 hours per day by calling 714-903-2900.

Another PCR testing facility can be found at: http://www.immuno-sci-lab.com/services.html

http://www.asthmastory.com/bloodtest.asp

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Say Chlamydia pneumoniae and before you get to pneumoniae most people think of a sexually transmitted disease.

"As soon as people hear the name Chlamydia their ears shut down," said Dr. Charles W. Stratton, associate professor of Pathology. "They either don't hear or don't understand the second part - pneumoniae. They think of Chlamydia trachomatis, a common cause of sexually transmitted diseases. c is the one that's not fun to catch."

The Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) organism, first described in 1988, is not the sexually-transmitted type. It is an airborne organism that you get from breathing after a person carrying the organism has coughed.

"They float around as droplet nuclei, similar to TB. People cough and up come these infectious bodies. They float around a room. You breathe. In they come and now you've got your own."

It's how they work inside the body that Stratton, Dr. William M. Mitchell, professor of Pathology, and colleagues have been looking at for the past five years.

The study of the organism has intensified as Stratton's colleagues at Vanderbilt and other medical centers around the country, including Johns Hopkins and The Mayo Clinic, look at the role of Chlamydia in diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Pyoderma gangrenosum, Coronary Artery Disease and Interstitial Cystitis.

http://www.asthmastory.com/cp.asp

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SYDNEY, Australia -- July 2, 1997 -- A husband and wife team have earned the reputation as the modern day Marie and Pierre Curie because of their discovery of a link between heart disease and a bacteria that generally causes respiratory tract infections.

Professor Pekka Saikku and Dr. Maija Leinonen of the National Public Health Institute in Finland discovered the link between the bacterial infection, Chlamydia pneumoniae and cardiovascular disease and will present the impact of their research to the future treatment of coronary heart disease at a satellite symposium whilst also attending the 20th International Congress of Chemotherapy in Sydney, Australia.

http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/2db82.htm

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http://www.nexusmagazine.com/article...pathogens.html

Controversial biophysicist Hulda Clark, PhD, ND, stated in her book, The Cure For All Disease, that cancer, one of the most feared of diseases, is caused by pathogens--specifically, parasites whose life cycles are aided and abetted by modern chemicals that we encounter.

She is certainly not alone in identifying links between parasites/pathogens and modern illness. Chronic fatigue shows a strong connection with Epstein Barr virus.

HEART DISEASE AND PULMONARY EMBOLISM HAVE BEEN CONNECTED WITH CHLAMYDIA PNEUMONIAE. The list is long and growing. To add to the problem, these pathogens have been able to use the body's processes against it.

Using the sloughed-off protein of the host, these pathogens have the ability to create a protective cloak so that the body will be fooled into thinking that the pathogen is part of our normal form and function.

Chlamydia pneumoniae Linked to Heart Disease
 --An article published in the June 2000 issue of the Townsend Letters for Doctors and Patients stated that the high and rising incidence of heart disease in many cases can be attributed to undiagnosed Chlamydia pneumoniae which continuously re-infect the human host.
Jeffrey S. Bland, PhD, with Sara H. Benum, MA, in a recent publication, Genetic Nutritioneering (Keats Publishing, Los Angeles, 1999), reported the following (pp. 142-144):
"Swedish medical researchers spent several years trying to determine the cause of death of 16 very fit athletes; all of whom died of sudden cardiac arrest while performing. Post mortem examination revealed evidence of inflammation of the heart, which seemed to be caused by a chronic infection with the parasite Chlamydia pneumoniae.
Following up on this discovery, investigators in the cardiology division at the University of Utah School of Medicine confirmed the strong correlation between heart disease and infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae.