Do blood bacteria cause many ills?

摘要

Could bacteria be to blame for a host of conditions we thought had nothing to do with infection? A molecule made only by bacteria has been found to change blood proteins in a way that is common to a score of "non-infectious" conditions, from heart attacks to Alzheimer's disease. All involve inflammation, abnormal blood clotting, excessive iron in the blood and sheets of abnormally folded proteins. If bacteria really link all these observations, we might find that it's possible to fight these "non-infectious" illnesses by attacking the microbes.