Background-The clinical benefits of lipid lowering with statins are attributed to changes in plaque composition leading to lesion stability, but supporting clinical data from human studies are lacking. Therefore, we investigated the effect of 3 months of pravastatin treatment on composition of human carotid plaques removed during carotid endarterectomy. Methods and Results-Consecutive patients with symptomatic carotid artery stenosis received 40 mg/d pravastatin (nϭ11) or no lipid-lowering therapy (nϭ13; control subjects) for 3 months before scheduled carotid endarterectomy.

Pasteurella multocida is a frequent cause of infection after animal bites. In contrast to earlier reports, P. multocida appeared to be as common among dogs as among cats. We found 17 (81%) of 21 pet dogs to harbour P. multocida in their saliva. At normal contact, the risk of transmission from dogs to humans seems to be negligible. Only 1/27 dogs owners was found to harbour the organism. None of 13 cat owners or 23 persons without animal contacts harboured P. multocida.