Myocardial Infarction and Infections with Helicobacter pylori and Chlamydia pneumoniae

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. In addition to the known major coronary risk factors, biological agents such as Chlamydia pneumoniae and Helicobacter pylori have been suggested recently in relation to the risk of MI.
We studied 97 patients with documented MI and 141 matched normal controls in relation to contamination with Chlamydia pneumoniae and
Helicobacter pylori (HP) at our department from 1999 to 2001. The serum IgA and IgG levels for Helicobacter pylori and Chlamydia pneumoniae were assayed using Elisa
serological test in each group.
0.05). However, in relation to Chlamydia pneumoniae, there was a significant difference for seropositivity of IgA and IgG between cases and controls, where 74.2% of cases (13.5% control, p< 0.01) were seropositive for IgA and 69.1% of cases (24.8% control, p< 0.001) for IgG.
The patients with myocardial infarction have a significantly higher rate of positivity for IgG and IgA antibodies against Chlamydia pneumoniae