Antibiotics don’t seem to protect heart
By Ben Harder
A report made public last month reinforced the idea that antibiotics can protect some people with cardiovascular disease against subsequent heart attacks, possibly by fighting an infection underlying the disease (SN: 3/16/02, p. 164: Troubled Hearts: Antibiotic might fend off second attack). However, two larger, subsequently released studies–one funded by an antibiotic manufacturer–show weak evidence at best of the purported effect.
In one study, Michael Dunne of the pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and his colleagues gave either the antibiotic azithromycin or a placebo pill to some 7,700 people who had both a history of heart disease and evidence of infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae. Some past studies have associated that bacterium with heart disease. The volunteers took pills weekly for 3 months and were monitored for an average of 2 years.