Is heart disease infectious?  Could it be treated with antibiotics?

Answers to both these questions could be yes according to a theory being tested at the Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga Campus.

Biomedical sciences honours student Melanie Cochrane is investigating the possible link between a common bacteria, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and a heart disease which thickens arteries, atherosclerosis.

Ms Cochrane said scientists around the globe had been researching the theory for the past decade, but the only two Australian studies done to date showed there was no correlation between the bacteria and heart disease.

"In our study we applied a more comprehensive testing process, and found that this bacteria was present in blocked arteries - this is the first Australian report to show that link. Now we need further research to find out if Chlamydia pneumoniae is an innocent bystander, or if it plays a direct role in heart disease that might simply require antibiotic treatment."

CSU lecturer Helen Moriarty said: "The most significant thing about this work is that all previous studies in this country suggested that the culprits behind heart disease in Australia might be different because of our geographic location.

"But Melanie found the organism in her samples, so her results are the first evidence of this link here, and now our work can join the international search for a cure to the cardiac condition that causes 28% of deaths in Australia every year," she said.

"Her work isn't finished, but she has found a definite trend, and now scientists have to determine if the organism causes atherosclerosis, or just happens to be there in the blocked arteries."

Ms Moriarty and Dr Wouter Kalle are Ms Cochrane's supervisors in the research that has been working with tissue samples collected from the New South Wales State Coroner in Sydney.

Ms Cochrane is presenting preliminary results of her studies at the Australian Institute of Medical Science NSW Country Annual Scientific Meeting at the CSU Convention Centre tomorrow, Saturday 20 March.

Health professionals from throughout New South Wales and Victoria are attending the three-day conference in Wagga Wagga, which will also see presentations on a wide range of topics including forensic science, tropical diseases, and genetic screenings for predispositions to cancer.