Introduction:
Coronary atherosclerosis and its sequel, coronary heart disease, is an essential cause of prevalence and mortality. It also remains the main cause of ischaemic heart disease. The classical risk factors of coronary heart disease do not explain its occurrence in a substantial number of patients and that is why new factors are still being searched for. At present, chronic infl ammatory response of the vessel wall is thought to be one of them. Recent researches on atherosclerosis show that viruses can play an essential role in etiopatogenesis. On account of this, an attempt was made to assess the infl uence of cytomegalovirus infection upon coronary heart disease.

Material and Methods:
Fifty-eight patients took part in the study: thirty with symptoms of acute coronary syndrome and twenty-eight with stable angina pectoris The aim of the study was to determine the influence of cytomegalovirus infection upon coronary heart disease by determining IgM and IgG class antibodies against cytomegalovirus in blood serum of the patients, as well as avidity in IgG class antibodies against cytomegalovirus.

Results:
IgM class antibodies against cytomegalovirus in blood serum were seldom found in both studied groups. Frequency of IgG class antibodies was high both in the group of patients with acute coronary heart disease and in the group with stable angina. High avidity of IgG antibodies was found more often in the group of patients with angina pectoris than in the patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Conclusions:
Cytomegalovirus infection may be connected with ischaemic heart disease, however, it does not affect its exacerbation. Cytomegalovirus infection in patients with ischaemic heart disease is chronic in nature.