Nothing is more
excoriated in medicine than the notion of the "magic bullet." Yet
that is, in part, the allure that draws the public and researchers to
seek an infectious cause for chronic disease. Who would not like to
eliminate cancer or heart disease with a pill or a vaccine?
When the federal Centers for Disease Control and other public health
and infectious disease organizations held the First Annual Conference
on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, Ga, earlier this year, it
was that search for a magic bullet that made the issue of chronic
disease and infections was one of the plenary topics.
Gail Cassell, PhD, formerly of the University of Alabama School of
Medicine and now a vice president with Eli Lilly & Co in Indianapolis,
Ind, gave that lecture. She said that perhaps it all began with
acquired immune deficiency syndrome. "AIDS was an eye opener," she
said. "It was something unimaginable: an infectious agent that could
lie dormant for so long and then cause such a devastating infection."
Now, she said, a growing body of knowledge indicates that a variety of
infectious agents may be associated with chronic diseases. The best
known of these is the Helicobacter pylori story, in which
Australian physician Barry J. Marshall, MD, fought an uphill battle to
have the association between the bacterium and ulcers recognized. As
recently as the mid-1980s, peptic ulcers were blamed on stress and
other environmental factors. Drugs to reduce the flow of stomach acid
were among the
© 1998 American Heart Association, Inc.
Cardiovascular News
Chronic Disease: Infectious Cause?