High Blood Pressure Be Gone

Posts Tagged ‘hypertension drugs’

The new story about the possible link between CMV virus and hypertension has caught on like wildfire on internet world.

From: http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/rss/article/670257

WASHINGTON – Provocative new research suggests that a common virus might play a role in high blood pressure.

The work, by Harvard scientists, so far is only in mice – and the usually symptomless infection is so widespread that proving an effect in people will be tough.

Still, it’s the latest clue that infections may somehow affect a number of the factors that lead to heart disease, from stiffening arteries to obesity.

“There’s likely to be considerable skepticism about this in the medical profession,” acknowledged lead researcher Dr. Clyde Crumpacker, an infectious disease specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

But, “what we would postulate is yes, there can be persistent infection of blood vessels that could be leading to high blood pressure.”

At issue is cytomegalovirus, or CMV. More than half of U.S. adults are infected by age 40, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s a lifelong infection but the vast majority will never even know they have it. ……

……

Almost one in three adult Americans, or 72 million people, and almost one billion people worldwide have high blood pressure. It’s a leading cause of heart disease and strokes.

Poor diet and lack of exercise are key risk factors, but doctors don’t understand all of the underlying triggers of hypertension – including why some couch potatoes never get it and some thin, fit people do.

“It’s an intriguing report” that calls for more research into the possible effect, said Dr. Cheryl L. McDonald of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the work.

But she cautioned that any human testing would be years away.

Response:

I wouldn’t get your hopes up about the CMV – hypertension connection as it’s largely based conjecture.

The best way to combat high blood pressure is to lead a healthy lifestyle including diet and exercise.

Simon Foster

Apparently my comments questioning the links between the CMV virus and hypertension has caused a bit of a stir with some agreement.

Here’s a sample from www.haloscan.com

Original post:

Simon Foster

If the virus infects 60 to 90 percent of the population and it causes high blood pressure then how come that same amount of people don’t have high blood pressure?

There maybe a link between CMV and hypertension but from everything I’ve read so far its seems the whole story is based on a lot of assumptions and conjecture.

I wouldn’t be too fast to jump on the CMV bandwagon.

Simon

P.S. How do you measure a mouse’s blood pressure anyway?

Email | Homepage | 05.17.09 – 10:01 am | #

PubMed

Several vaccines against CMV are already in advanced stages of development.

I wonder how many “genetic” diseases this vaccine will prevent in future generations.

Email | Homepage | 05.17.09 – 11:38 am | #
diogenes

I’m not a cardiologist — but my general understanding from talking with friends is that mice are not a great model organism, they don’t really develop atherosclerosis like humans do — although they are still widely used. Not sure how legit they would be for essential HTN. HTN caused artificially by blocking a blood vessel is very different from the majority of HTN in humans, and when humans get that type of HTN, it is relatively easy to treat.

Anyway, I wouldn’t bet money on this. Sero-prevalance (or number of people infected at one point) of CMV is probably around 75% for people over 30. People have been trying to find infectious causes of athersclerosis for a long time.

Email | Homepage | 05.17.09 – 2:39 pm | #

PubMed

Simon Foster

If the virus infects 60 to 90 percent of the population and it causes high blood pressure then how come that same amount of people don’t have high blood pressure?

Perhaps heredity, lifestyle and circumstance influence susceptability to the disease process.

The mouse study appeared to produce decisive results. Whether that translates to humans will require more research.

I wouldn’t bet against CMV. Inflammation is strongly associated with heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

“…virtually every step in atherogenesis is believed to involve substances involved in the inflammatory response and cells that are characteristic of inflammation.”

According to the American Heart Association Herpes virus (CMV) is on the short list of potential triggers.

Email | Homepage | 05.17.09 – 6:44 pm | #
Eric Johnson

If the virus infects 60 to 90 percent of the population and it causes high blood pressure then how come that same amount of people don’t have high blood pressure?

Half of the world’s humans harbor Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but 90% never have any symptoms during their whole life. The reasons for that are no doubt complex. There’s also lifetime herpes prevalence vs lifetime shingles prevalance, Helicobacter pylori vs ulcer, HPV vs cervical cancer, and many more examples.

Email | Homepage | 05.17.09 – 9:29 pm | #

While the scientists are working hard on a vaccine that may or may not help you lower your blood pressure you can take a look at alternative treatments that I am currently using.

They are all working, a bit by bit, to reduce my dangerously high blood pressure to a managable and healty level.

Check out my reviews here: alternative high blood pressure treatments reviews

from:

http://www.bukisa.com

http://www.lsblog.org

http://www.nationalpost.com

among others …

The BIG story that’s run amok on the Internet lately:

Mice infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV) were more likely to develop not only high blood pressure

but also the hardening of the arteries called atherosclerosis

, according to a report in the May 15 issue of PLoS Pathogens by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston.

CMV infection is widespread, Crumpacker noted. Studies indicate that between 60 percent and 99 percent of adults worldwide are infected, according to the study. But aside from pregnancy, where CMV infection is associated with serious birth defects, it causes no problems for most adults “until they get something that compromises the immune system,” he noted.

“Vascular [blood vessel] injury has been suspected for quite a while,” Crumpacker said. “What we have added, in collaboration with cardiologists, is evidence that in mice, CMV can cause an increase in blood pressure.”

Blood vessel problems related to CMV infection were first noted in heart transplant recipients, Crumpacker said. Those who were CMV-positive were more likely to have blockage of the heart arteries

.

Most cases of high blood pressure in humans are of unknown origin, Crumpacker said. “Ninety-eight percent of the time, we don’t know what the cause is,” he said. If CMV infection is established as a cause — something that requires much more research — the way would be open for better methods of prevention and treatment, Crumpacker said.

“This is very exciting and important work,” said Dr. Mark R. Schleiss, who holds the American Legion chair of pediatric infectious disease at the University of Minnesota and is a leading figure in the drive to develop a CMV vaccine.

My Response:

If the virus infects 60 to 90 percent of the population and it causes high blood pressure then how come that same amount of people don’t have high blood pressure?

There maybe a link between CMV and hypertension but from everything I’ve read so far its seems the whole story is based on a lot of assumptions and conjecture.

I wouldn’t be too fast to jump on the CMV bandwagon.

Simon

P.S. How do you measure a mouse’s blood pressure anyway?

My girlfriend is suffering from blood pressure that is too low – 90 over 70 or thereabouts. We joked that if we combined our blood pressures and shared them between us we’d be about right.

But when it comes right down to it, blood pressure being too high or too low is no joking matter.

So I got a monitor the other day to keep track of where I am at home. One thing I’ve noticed is that my blood pressure reading is not steady. It can be anywhere between 190 over 130 to 130 over 95 inj the same day.

Why such change?

I have learned that I can lower my blood pressure with relaxation and breathing exercises. But the question is – will such exercises tend to lower my blood pressure permanently or just temporarily.

The people who promote these exercises claim the change will be permanent. They may be right but I don’t think it happens over night.

I have noticed a decrease in my overall blood pressure in the past few weeks since I started these exercises and changed my diet.

My blood pressure is going the right way – down – so I just hang tight for now and keep monitoring.

By the way I ran out of Rampril (ACE inhibitor) a few days ago and for some reason my doctor didn’t renew the prescription (perhaps because it wasn’t working anyway. I’m booked for blood pressure test and blood samples taken for testing (third time in two months!) next week so we’ll see what they say then.