Flu a heart attack danger
Flu vaccinations could prevent thousands of deaths from heart disease according to an American study which found that flu itself could help trigger heart attacks.
A research team based at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston investigated 35,000 deaths caused by heart disease in St.Petersburg in Russia between 1993 and 2000. The team found that the likelihood of dying from a heart attack during an influenza epidemic in the Russian city increased by one third.
A senior research scientist at the Houston institute, Mohammad Madjid, said “our research has shown that influenza epidemics are associated with a rise in coronary deaths. This (St.Petersburg) was a population where only a small minority were receiving flu vaccines or statin drugs, so this enabled us to see what happened in the absence of these medicines”.
Sydney cardiologist Lynne Pressley said that flu led to inflammation in the body which could cause any deposits of cholesterol and fibrous tissue that build-up on blood vessel walls to rupture, creating clots that could trigger a heart attack.
