Common virus may cause high blood pressure: study

reuters ^ | May 14, 2009 | Julie Steenhuysen

[JoeProBono]

A common virus may be a major cause of high blood pressure, researchers said on Thursday in a finding that may bring new approach to treating a condition that affects an estimated 1 billion people worldwide. Based on a series of studies in mice, they said cytomegalovirus or CMV -- a herpes virus that affects some 60 to 99 percent of adults globally -- appears to increase inflammation in blood vessels, causing high blood pressure. And when combined with a fatty diet, CMV may also cause hardening of the arteries, a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease, they said. "I think it could be very important," said Dr. Clyde Crumpacker of Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who worked on the study in the Public Library of Science Journal PLoS Pathogens. "It may suggest a whole new way of looking at high blood pressure and vascular disease," Crumpacker said in a telephone interview.

[JoeProBono]

[pieceofthepuzzle]

Interesting.. CMV has been purported to play a role in vascular pathology before, via it's effects on the tumor-suppressor gene p53.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Ping

[dangerdoc]

bump

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Not surprised. Regular intake of Vitamin C should take care of the problem. I take four grams daily. Wouldn’t be without it.

[BuffaloJack]

Interesting. Hypertension caused by Cytomegalovirus. Wasn’t is just 3 or 4 years ago that they found that heart attacks were caused by chlamydia pneumoniae attacking the insides of blood vessels and causing lesions that quickly built up plaques to form clots and the subsequent heart attack? Apparently everything is caused by a pathogen

[decimon]

Some 30 years ago the Red Cross vampires told me I was CMV negative. They said that was rare in a adults and that my CMV negative blood was valuable for use with children.

Despite being a smoker and big coffee drinker, my blood pressure was that of an athlete. Or so I was told.

[antisocial]

Bump

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[neverdem]

Cytomegalovirus Infection Causes an Increase of Arterial Blood Pressure

This could be a big deal for idiopathic hypertension, aka high blood pressure, IMHO.

[Smokin' Joe]

ping...(Thanks for the ping, neverdem!)

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Maybe the virus is my problem....too much sodium and I don’t feel so good!

And I do take by blood pressure medication.

[bert]

After years and years of low blood pressure, it began to rise. i asked my doctor if there was some action the could be taken to reverse the trend.

He told me thet there may be no proximate cause that can be remedied by diet or exercise etc. It just happens.

Perhaps the viral levels have risen to the point it has crept up.

Strangely believe it, I found this thread as I was taking my blood pressure. I bought a Panasonic unit. For reasons noe under consideration it reads about 15-20 units higher than at the doctors office

[Old Professer]

ping

[Myrddin]

Yet another reason to direct more effort at anti-viral research. Fixing the cause of the problem is superior to just treating the symptoms.

[SunkenCiv]

cytomegalovirus or CMV -- a herpes virus that affects some 60 to 99 percent of adults globally -- appears to increase inflammation in blood vessels, causing high blood pressure.

Thanks neverdem.

[AdmSmith]

Each year, about 40,000 children are born infected with human cytomegalovirus, or CMV, and about 8,000 of these children suffer permanent disabilities due to the virus — almost one an hour. These disabilities can include hearing loss, vision loss, mental disability, a lack of coordination, and seizures. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CMV is as common a cause of serious disability as Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, or neural tube defects.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060803091847.htm

A previous experimental immunization known as the Towne CMV vaccine did not prevent immune-compromised kidney-transplant patients from becoming infected with the virus, but it did keep them from developing symptoms, according to a 1984 study published in The Lancet. CMV subverts the machinery humans use to mount an immune response against viruses. It also uses some of that machinery, such as infection-fighting white blood cells, to spread itself throughout the body. Once a person has a virus, he or she typically develops antibodies against it and will not become infected again. But it appears that having CMV does not make a person immune to future infections — another reason skeptics doubt a vaccine could accomplish such a feat, either

Other companies, including Novartis and Vical, have their own vaccine candidates in development, and GSK completed a phase 1 safety trial of another vaccine, but has yet to release the results.

Pascal Barollier, a Sanofi-Pasteur spokesperson, says the company is reworking the vaccine, possibly with a different antigen (a substance that stimulates the body's immune system to make disease-fighting antibodies against a germ) or adjuvant, and will need to test the new formulation in the lab before trying it out on people. “The study is suggestive that prevention of maternal CMV infection is an achievable goal,” Barollier said. “Sanofi Pasteur is committed to bringing such a vaccine to market as soon as possible to respond to an unmet medical need.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=cmv-vaccine-shows-promise-2009-03-18

here are some studies http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?term=CMV

[neverdem]

Thanks for the links. The herpes family is quite interesting. My wife and I both had shingles. My sisters two sons had chicken pox twice each. They had it well before the vaccine arrived.