Alex
Corey | Posted: Jul 29, 2020 7:00 PM
A pair
of German studies published on Monday revealed that COVID-19 patients may
suffer long-term heart damage, even to those who are no longer experiencing
symptoms.
Two
studies from Germany included in the journal JAMA Cardiology, suggest
how the virus can linger in the heart for months, even in those not
experiencing any of the typical symptoms.
One study included
100 coronavirus patients from the University Hospital Frankfurt COVID-19
Registry. Patients were adults in their 40s and 50s with no underlying health
conditions.
All of
the patients had MRIs of their heart two to three months after they tested
positive with the illness, a period of time where the participants were assumed
to be recovered. Researchers compared these images to people who'd never had
COVID-19.
Out of
the 100 patients in the study, 78 still had clear visual signs that the virus
had an effect on their heart. Out of those impacted patients, 60 showed signs
of reoccurring inflammation of the heart muscle. Many of these findings were
consistent with patients having myocarditis or pericarditis.
Myocarditis is the
inflammation of the heart muscle. Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez revealed on
Sunday he was suffering from the disorder as a result of the virus.
The
slightly less serious pericarditis is
the swelling and irritation of the pericardium, the thin saclike membrane
enclosing the heart. Both can occur as the result of a viral infection like the
virus and can severely weaken the heart.
"That's
really compelling," Dr. Clyde Yancy, chief of cardiology in the department
of medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, told NBC News. "It
indicates that months after exposure to COVID-19, we can still detect evidence
of a heart that's not completely normal."
The second study included
39 autopsies of people who have died from the virus. The patient pool for this
study was older, using elderly victims with an average age in the 80s.
Researchers found evidence of the virus intermingled in the heart tissue in 24
of the 39 patients.Even scarier: five of the impacted patients showed signs the
virus was actually replicating in the heart tissue, meaning that virus cells
were still spreading throughout the organ.
The
heart isn't the only organ besides the lungs believed to be targeted by the
virus. In early July UK neurologists published a study that found COVID-19 can
cause potentially fatal brain disorders.
The CDC
has not added heart inflammation of brain swelling to its official COVID-19 symptom list,
although they do give the disclaimer that the site does not include all
symptoms an infected person could experience.
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