Chlamydia pneumoniaeand Atherosclerosis: The End?

In this issue of the Journal, Patrick et al (pages 298-300) report on the results of a pilot study testing the hypothesis that seropositivity to Chlamydia pneumoniae together with a specific bacteriophage protein is associated with first-episode myocardial infarction or unstable angina. The study evolved from an earlier report suggesting that C pneumoniae with phage seropositivity was strongly associated with the presence of abdominal aortic aneurysm. The phage association suggested a potential explanation for some of the variability in previous studies exploring C pneumoniae as a cause for atherosclerosis (ie, only selected strains of C pneumoniae were pathogenic). Patrick et al found no significant association or trend, and the authors concluded that the negative findings in their pilot study did not support further studies to address this potential association