Virus Linked to High Blood Pressure?

A common virus might be a major cause of high blood pressure, a new study found.

Researchers discovered that cytomegalovirus (CMV), an infection affecting between 60 and 99 percent of adults worldwide, can cause high blood pressure. The study was conducted with mice, but researchers think the link also applies to humans.

"It's estimated that a third of the American population does have high blood pressure," said study leader Clyde Crumpacker, a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and professor at Harvard Medical School. "In 90 percent of those cases the cause is unclear. There is the possibility that this common viral infection might be a significant cause."

Crumpacker and team found that mice infected with CMV developed higher blood pressure than uninfected mice. What's more, when CMV-infected mice were fed high-cholesterol diets, they had the highest blood pressures of all.

High cholesterol diets and obesity are known to influence high blood pressure, but this is the first time that CMV infection is also implicated. The discovery could lead to better treatments.

"Here is the possibility that maybe high blood pressure could be prevented or treated by antiviral therapies or a vaccine," Crumpacker told LiveScience. "That could have major public health advantages for the American people."

The rest can be read here: http://www.livescience.com/health/090514-blood-pressure.html


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Hhhmmmmm.... interesting. Another vaccine. LOL