Resumo

GURFINKEL, Enrique P. Genética y biología molecular en cardiología (III) Infección y aterosclerosis. Rev cubana med [online]. 2001, vol.40, n.4, pp. 273-287. ISSN 1561-302X.

Up to the beggining of the XIX century and in the whole world, infection was the dominant cause of mortality, particularly tuberculosis and infectious diarrheas. The health advances and the introduction of antibiotics reduced the extraordinary way of prevalence of these diseases. After the big world wars, the survival of humanity increased significantly, associated with a dynamic work of scientific research, specially in the study of physiopathological mechanisms of the following medical challenges: cancer and atherosclerosis. Almost at the end of the border between the knowledge of these mechanisms and pathology, the course of research changed fast and, once more, towards infection: asthma, peptic ulcer and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in the adult appeared strongly associated to microorganisms. Anyway, the publication of the discoveries on hormonal receptors and genetic associations, including the recent development of the "human genoma" project, continued. However, until the begining of the XX century the government health agencies still considered that in spite of the advances achieved in the different disciplines, atherosclerosis, through its classic symptomatic expressions, was the first cause of death for humanity. At the end of the l990s, a few clinical trials that used macrolide antibiotics in this population warned the scientific commmunity. Have we forgotten anything?

Palavras-chave : INFECTION; ATHEROSCLEROSIS; IMMUNITY; INFLAMMATION.

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