Treatment with the antibiotic azithromycin (Zithromax) may improve blood vessel function in some patients with coronary artery disease.
UK researchers found that a 5-week course of the antibiotic appeared to boost flow-mediated dilation in patients' arteries -- a measure of how well the blood vessel lining, or endothelium, reacts when the body needs more oxygen-rich blood.
All of the 40 male patients in the study had evidence of Chlamydia pneumoniae bacteria in their blood. Growing evidence suggests that chronic infection with certain bacteria, such as the respiratory bug C. pneumoniae, plays a role in the development of artery blockages and in destabilizing these blockages to help trigger heart attack and stroke. Because of this, investigators have been studying whether bacteria-fighting antibiotics could help treat artery disease.
The current findings "clearly show" that azithromycin can improve blood vessel function in coronary artery disease patients who carry C. pneumoniae, according to Kaski and his colleagues.
But whether this benefit will translate into improvements in patients' artery disease and reduced risks of heart attack and stroke is far from clear.
Some researchers believe that chronic, low-grade infection with certain germs contributes to artery disease by creating an inflammatory response that damages the blood vessel lining and potentially contributes to artery blockages. In addition, this inflammation could disturb unstable artery blockages and help trigger a heart attack or stroke.
In his team's study, half of the men were randomly assigned to take azithromycin for 5 weeks, while the other half took an inactive placebo. At the end of the study, the antibiotic patients showed improved functioning in an artery in the arm, while there were no significant changes in the placebo patients.
Circulation February 26, 2002;10.1161/hc1102.105649
No new information here as I have reported on this connection for the last five years.
Clearly, bacterial infections are a major cause of disease. The confusion many people have, including health care professionals, is that the bacteria are responsible for the disease.
Nothing could be further from the truth. One's weakened immune system that opens the door for these infections to come in is usually the causal factor. This is actually good news. If we had to focus our resources on avoiding bacteria we could only be partially successful.
However, if we change our eating and work on the psychoemotional wounding that most of us have, we can normalize our adrenal hormones and radically improve our immune system so we can prevent future infections and recover from any current ones.
The unfortunate and complicating issue in most cases is that once the "horse is out of the barn" and one has a serious bacterial infection, it frequently is necessary to use antibiotics to recover from the illness.
I fully believe that most people die from heart disease due to unresolved stress rather than their cholesterol levels or smoking.
Fortunately, EFT is one of the major new tools that can be used to effectively and rapidly address these stresses.
You can review the EFT Resource Page that can provide a sound foundation to effectively applying EFT to improve your immune system by reducing the negative influences stress has on your immune system.
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