Infection and inflammation in the cardiovascular system.

Infection and inflammation of the cardiovascular system are a frequent cause of cardiac and/or vascular disease, which represents an enormous clinical burden in adult medicine. Major advances have now occurred in understanding cellular and molecular bases of a wide variety of inflammatory cardiovascular diseases. Some of these (myocarditis) have been recognized as inflammatory disease for a long time. Of others (atherosclerosis), the inflammatory nature of disease and possible involvement of bacterial antigens therein has emerged only recently. In both cases however, new insights in inflammatory mechanisms will have great impact on clinical thinking and management.