Flu Triggers Heart Attacks

Flu Triggers Heart Attacks

www.eurekalert.org

...research shows that influenza epidemics are associated with a rise in deaths from heart disease and that flu can actually trigger the heart attacks that result in death.

Researchers believe that flu causes an acute and severe inflammation in the body, which, in some patients, can destabilise atherosclerotic plaques [2] in coronary arteries and cause heart attacks.

..."Most people develop atherosclerotic lesions in their coronary arteries in early childhood and these lesions grow over time.

(visit the link for the full news article)

One of the study's authors, Prof Madjid, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Texas-Houston, and a senior research scientist at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, USA "urged the European Society of Cardiology to follow the lead set in the USA by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology and recommend that all at-risk people should be given flu vaccines."

He's also pushing Tamiflu.

My question: Why aren't these fools promoting statins - proven to work - instead of useless vaccines and Tamiflu, which is not only useless, but dangerous too? Especially to teenagers.

Is it because statins are generic, and much less profitable?

In a large matched cohort study of 76,232 patients, moderate use of statins was associated with an 83% reduction in the risk of death from COPD, they reported in the April issue of CHEST.

Use of statins also was linked to a 40% reduced risk of death from pneumonia or flu, according to Floyd Frost, Ph.D., of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute here, and colleagues.

The study provided additional evidence that statins, in addition as lowering LDL levels, also can modulate the immune system - a property that may be important in the event of a new flu pandemic, Dr. Frost and colleagues said.

***

The new study supports a theory proposed last year that statin drugs might help patients with H5N1 avian influenza, which some studies suggest kills by causing an immune system overreaction called a cytokine storm.

"This study found a dramatically reduced risk of death from COPD among statin users and a significantly reduced risk of death from influenza/pneumonia," the researchers wrote in their report, published in the journal Chest.

In 2006, researchers in Canada reported that statins act against sepsis, a dangerous blood infection, and a 2005 study found the death rate was 64 percent lower in pneumonia patients who had been taking statins.

***


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who use statin drugs are less likely to die of influenza and chronic bronchitis, according to a study that shows yet another unexpected benefit of the cholesterol-lowering medications.

Experts say a pandemic of some sort of influenza is inevitable.

Experts generally agree that an effective vaccine would take months to formulate and perhaps years to make enough doses to cover the world. There is also a shortage of antiviral drugs.

***

Researchers in New Mexico say moderate statin use is linked to a reduced risk of death from the flu and chronic lung disease.

A study of 76,232 patients showed moderate statin use was associated with an 83 percent reduction in risk of death from chronic pulmonary disease, Medpage Today reported on Tuesday. Use of statins was also associated with a 40 percent reduction in death from pneumonia or influenza.

***

People who use statin drugs are less likely to die of influenza and chronic bronchitis, according to research that shows yet another unexpected benefit of the cholesterol-lowering medications.

The study of more than 76,000 people showed that those who had taken statins for at least 90 days had a much lower risk of dying from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, the technical name for emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Patients on statins also had a lower risk of dying from influenza or pneumonia, the researchers reported in the April issue of the journal Chest.

FYI - Statins are available over-the-counter in the UK.


www.eurekalert.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Tamiflu is really dangerous. It makes ppl suicidal n such I wish it was banned. Poor Japanese ppl took it n got sick

True. Tamiflu sucks.

...Statins were flagged over a year ago as a bird flu treatment - but the news got buried because there's no profit in pushing generic drugs.

I'm glad to see that researchers are doing the drudge work, and speaking out.

Moi? I shall be requesting a statin prescription at my next doctor visit. ...Been meaning to for a while, but now have this odd sense of urgency.


.

hmm.. that is a good idea=]soo.... if u took like tynonol cold/flu and thermaflu, would it help? Oh and im not too knowledgeable on statins, what r they? r they prescription only?

Originally posted by hachiban08

im not too knowledgeable on statins, what r they? r they prescription only?

statin (STA-tin)

Any of a group of drugs that lower the amount of cholesterol and certain fats in the blood. Statins inhibit a key enzyme that helps make cholesterol. Statin drugs are being studied in the prevention and treatment of cancer.

Statins are sold over-the-counter in the UK - but are prescription elsewhere.

Glad you take up stastin, sofi.

Do you know when the first statin was introduced on the market?

It must be a recent drug. The discovery of the reaction on enzymes metabolism for this compound wasn't before 1971. Basicly I understand it is coming from mold.

Though I've taken the drug in question for 5 years or more, I admit I didn't know much about it before this OP set me out on a couple of hours research.

I did know about the cytokine reaction preventing flu, possibly H5N1, read it in one of your threads i think.

But I didn't know about the research in other fields that's carried out. And I didn't know its history or mode of action, least of all the active compound.

What I know is this medicine is vital to me, maybe the difference of life and death. Having a family history of heart failures, I do remember to take my pill every night.

They work, the annual tests shows it, and so far I'm now older than both my dad and his dad were by passing.

Couple of links.

The Statin Drugs
Statin

This is something I did not know until it happened to me.

I had the flu not a bad case so mild in fact that I completely ignored it ...until one night I felt bad so I went to bed early and had some wild symptoms hot and clod flashes erratic pulse delirious hallucinations then I passed out for an unknown time when I woke up I felt "better" but weak very weak but I passed it off as the flu catching up with me.

The next day I was talking to a friend of mine who is a hospice nurse r.n. and described the episode and he says so what did the Dr. say about it and I said what Dr. I feel better his response was that if I did not see a Dr. he would come up here and drag me to one.

so okay I go to the e. r. and they listen to my story just like you and say sounds like a bad case of the flu ...but we'll do one more blood test just to make sure, so I’m putting my clothes back on getting ready to go home and the nurse comes back in and says "lay down, her take this aspirin, hold still were going to put an iv. In and take this o2 mask and put it on.

What is going on I ask she says you have had a heart attack so they put me in a room and all these Dr's. and such come to see me and I get the idea that this is not going to end very good for me... livening wails organ donation and all this stuff they talked to me about so...

the next morning I’m in an ambulance headed for he big med institute in Portland or. and the do a bunch of tests and a cardiac cauterization echo cardiograms and such and it come back that yes I had a heart attack and missed dying right there by a hair and now my heart does not work right the left atrium is hardly moving and I have an ejection fraction of only 40% and to make things even better I will probable live but could just die for no apparent reason in the next 2 years or so they called it viral myocarditis and said most don't even get to the hospital ,

it is caused when a flu virus gets into your heart muscle and there is no way to prevent or predict it the Dr. said you have to look at it like being struck by lightning it just happens be glad you survived, and I am to be sure but 2 years have gone by now and I am still weak and my heart is still not working properly I can have a bp of 97/56 bpm of 95 .

So for all the good it does to warn you this sort of thing can and does happen all the time

Thanks khunmoon for your story and links.

Thanks wcssar too, for your story.

You're right - the problem is far more widespread than acknowledged.

...Flu can reactivate latent virus infections, and may itself be a latent virus.

UPDATE on statins - FYI - taking statins made me REALLY sick. I stopped, but it took about 2 years for my symptoms to resolve.

MORE on the heart-flu link:

Influenza-Associated Morbidity and Mortality in Young and Middle-Aged Women

Women younger than 65 years with certain chronic medical conditions experience substantial morbidity and mortality from acute cardiopulmonary events during influenza season.

Also SEE: Study Highlights Flu Risks For Women With Chronic Illness

...Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers report that women under the age of 65 with certain chronic medical conditions experience substantial morbidity and mortality from acute cardiopulmonary events during influenza season each year. These chronic conditions include cardiac or pulmonary disease, diabetes, malignancy, chronic renal disease and HIV infection.

While the vast majority - between 60-90 percent - of people who die during influenza season are 65 years or older, nearly three quarters of pneumonia- and influenza-associated hospitalizations occur among people younger than 65.

What to do about it?

Remember aspirin - an old-time miracle drug, off-patent and available as "acetylsalicylic acid (ASA)"...

Aspirin: the versatile drug

...(Aspirin) was developed as a painkiller and was mainly marketed as a headache medication or to treat the aches and pains of cold and flu. It takes fairly high doses for Aspirin to relieve pain.

What else does Aspirin do?

In low doses, it can help slow down the formation of blood clots. This can be useful for people at risk of stroke or heart attack. By the early 1980s, Aspirin began to be marketed as more than just a headache pill.

According to Health Canada, Aspirin is "indicated for the relief of pain, fever and inflammation of a variety of conditions such as influenza, common cold, low back and neck pain, dysmenorrhea, headache, toothache, sprains and strains, fractures, myositis, neuralgia, synovitis, arthritis, bursitis, burns, injuries, following surgical and dental procedures."

Based on its ability to thin the blood, Health Canada says Aspirin is also indicated for reducing the risk of:

* A first non-fatal heart attack in people deemed at risk by their physicians. The agency notes there's no evidence Aspirin will help ward off a first heart attack that is fatal.
* Stroke.
* Venous thromboembolism (blood clots) after total hip replacement.
* Deep vein thrombosis — so called "Economy Class Syndrome" — the formation of blood clots in deep veins. The name was coined after a woman died from a blood clot after a long flight in a cramped seat. Mixed research

Over the past few years, studies have suggested ASA may also help reduce the risk of:

* Colorectal cancer.
* A common form of breast cancer.
* Pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy disorder.
* Stroke.