Strokes, occupational risk for teachers due to repeated illnesses caught from students

Carotid Plaque Thickness Tied to Past Infections
By Megan Brooks
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Feb 15 - Past or chronic exposure to five common infections -- Chlamydia pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 and HSV-2 - seems to be associated with atherosclerotic plaque buildup in the carotid arteries, which raises the risk of stroke, according to a report in the March issue of Stroke.

In a prior study, researchers led by Dr. Mitchell S. V. Elkind, of Columbia University Medical Center, New York, found that cumulative exposure to these pathogens was associated with an increased risk of stroke, even after accounting for other risk factors.

"The hypothesis was that people who have been exposed to more infections, even common ones, throughout life would be more likely to have blood vessel damage that leads to atherosclerosis and plaque formation," Dr. Elkind told Reuters Health. "This appears to be the case."

In their latest study, Dr. Elkind explained, "we were attempting to see whether the same measure of infectious burden that we had previously related to risk of stroke was also associated with atherosclerosis."
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