A possible cause of arteriosclerosis.

A new etiology of arteriosclerosis is proposed. This theory has emerged from the inability of current theories to account for the spontaneously occurring disease and from numerous factual anomalies uncovered by recent research. It is suggested that arteriosclerosis is a chronic infectious disease caused by an infestation of blue-green algae, and that the natural history, histopathologic changes, and many apparently contradictory facts associated with arteriosclerosis are explained by such an etiologic agent. If correct, a radical shift in our understanding of the disease is required. Certain observations and forecasts are made based upon this infection theory.