A new study suggesting that a common virus might play a role in hypertension has some suggesting that a vaccine might be developed against high blood pressure.
A number of companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis and Vical are already at work on a CMV vaccine. While the virus rarely produces symptoms in healthy adults, it can cause harm to people with compromised immune systems and can produce birth defects in infants exposed prenatally.