Jump to full article: HealthDay [HealthScout], 2002-08-15
Author: Adam Marcus / HealthScoutNews Reporter
Intro: Flare-ups of chronic lung obstruction may be the result of bacterial infections, but not in the way many experts had previously supposed.
That's the conclusion of a new study, which found that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were more vulnerable to exacerbations of chronic bronchitis when strains of their resident airway organisms changed.
The researchers, who report their findings in this week's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, said their study doesn't prove the connection between COPD flare-ups and new infections. But they said it's a powerful argument for a link between germs and lung symptoms in these patients.
"I was convinced before, but I think this represents another strong line of evidence that bacteria do cause some flare-ups of COPD," said Dr. Timothy Murphy, an infection specialist at the Buffalo VA Medical Center and a co-author of the study. "There's something that happens that changes the relationship between bacteria and the host" that's not well understood, he added. . .
The prevalence of COPD has jumped sharply among women, who are now more likely than men to die from the disease. However, recent declines in smoking rates could reduce rates of the condition in the future.
Although smoking is well known to be the root cause of COPD, scientists have been less certain of what sparks the acutely strained breathing of exacerbations.
Jump to full article » |