Antibiotics do not protect against heart attacks

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study shows that giving patients antibiotics for a year does not protect them from further heart attacks.
Previous research has suggested how the bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae may contribute to heart disease by promoting inflammation within the coronary arteries. It could, therefore, be argued that preventing infection by antibiotic treatment may help protect people from heart disease.

Researchers at the University of Washington have now found out that antibiotics do not offer the hoped-for protection. They looked at a group of over 4,000 adults with heart disease who received either the antibiotic azithromycin or placebo for a year. After an average follow-up time of nearly four years, no significant difference in cardiac events was found between the two groups. However, more study is now needed to see if antibiotics may have a useful role in preventing heart disease rather than in treating it in its later stages.

Source
New England Journal of Medicine 22nd April 2005