The traditional narrative of heart attacks, which indicates plaque buildup driven by high cholesterol, poor diet, smoking, hypertension as the major culprit, may soon get a serious plot twist.

A pioneering study, conducted by researchers in Finland and the UK and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, presents compelling evidence that heart attacks may, in fact, sometimes be infectious.

Here's the gist: arterial plaques, those cholesterol-laden bulges in blood vessels, can quietly harbour bacterial biofilms, gelatinous structures in which bacteria live shielded from the body's immune system and antibiotics.

These biofilms may lurk for decades, often undetected. But when a viral infection, or perhaps another external stressor, occurs, it can "wake up" the bacteria. The resulting inflammation may then rupture the fibrous cap of the plaque, leading to a fatal blood clot or myocardial infarction (heart attack).

The study's lead, Professor Pekka Karhunen, explains that although microbiala involvement in atherosclerosis has been hypothesized before, this is one of the most direct, convincing pieces of evidence to date. 

Source:Ndtv