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Chronic Infections Can Cause High Blood Pressure 26 August 2010

A study published in the May 2009 edition of the journal PLoS Pathogens has found that chronic cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections in mice cause high blood pressure and atherosclerosis (plaque build up in arteries). CMV is a virus which has been found to persist in 60-99% of adults. By the age of 40, most adults will have contracted the virus although many will not show any symptoms. Like herpes viruses, once CMV gets into the body, it usually stays. Mice who were infected with the virus, later went on to develop both high blood pressure and atherosclerosis.

Take home message: this is more evidence of the role of infections in chronic degenerative disease and why elimination of chronic infections is one of my 8 keys to extraordinary health. We need to move away from the health model that seeks to identify specific infections as the cause of specific diseases and start to both lower the total body burden of all infections and change the terrain of the body so infections cannot proliferate.

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