Answer: They were both thought to be due to “stress” at one point, but were later linked to infectious processes.
Most ulcers are now known to be caused by Helicobacter pylori, or H. pylori for short.
Now a new study in the Public Library of Science shows that hypertension may be caused by cytomegalovirus infections. CMV apparently increases inflammation in the blood vessel walls and increases the secretion of both renin and angiotensin II – both known to contribute to hypertension. CMV infection plus a high cholesterol diet also caused atherosclerosis in the aorta while CMV infection without high cholesterol did not.
Any pharmaceutical company that has a hypertension medication on patent is not going to be happy about this study. Then again, Roche stock is probably going to make a nice little jump as Roche makes ganciclovir and valganciclovir – both medications used to treat CMV. Roche also makes a little-known drug called Tamiflu.
Wouldn’t it be wild if all the hypertensive medications were rendered useless by an antiviral drug?
I’d be interested to see whether HIV patients on chronic treatment for CMV retinitis are any less likely to have hypertension.