A fulminant myocarditis it was lethal for a 6-year-old girl from Piacenza. The blame: a flu that triggered inflammation of the heart muscle. But what is fulminant myocarditis and what are the symptoms to recognize it?
By “myocarditis” we mean ainflammation of the muscle tissue of the heart, the myocardium to be precise. It is divided into fulminant and non fulminant and what makes the difference between the life and death of a patient is the recognition of symptomsreal alarm bells to start a correct therapy.
What are the symptoms to recognize a myocarditis and what is the link with the flu?
Things?
The myocarditis it is a more or less extensive inflammation of the myocardium and which can lead to heart failure, arrhythmias and sometimes even to cardiac death improvise. In many cases myocarditis heals within a few weeks (4-6 weeks), but in case of fulminant myocarditis death may come.
Myocarditis can be caused by infectious or non-infectious causes, as happened for myocarditis diagnosed after vaccination for Covid-19. In fact, there are different types of myocarditis and they are:
- Fulminant myocarditis
- Subacute myocarditis
- Chronic active myocarditis
- Persistent chronic myocarditis
Specifically it is defined fulminant myocarditis when myocardial inflammation is severe and prevents normal organ function, resulting in multi-organ failure.
Who does it hit?
The fulminant myocarditis or non-fulminant can occur in people of all ages, but has a high frequency in young people between the ages of 20 and 40. In any case it is a relatively rare inflammatory disease with an incidence of 10 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. However, it is often difficult to diagnose in time, because it looks like asymptomatic; it is therefore easier to recognize it only after an autopsy and for this reason it is defined sneaky.
The myocarditis it can also develop following a common flu, as happened to the young victim of Piacenza and the symptoms, to further complicate the diagnosis in time, are quite variable.
What are the symptoms?
Recognizing myocarditis in time is not easy at all because, as explained by Dr. Gian Battista Danzi, director of the Cardiology complex structure of the Cremona hospital, the myocarditis often arises only as a feeling of arrhythmia.
Some of symptoms more recognizable, in addition to a different heartbeat, are the chest pain, general fatigue and difficulty breathing. It is quite common to perceive a heartbeat differences, such as palpitation and even faint. If the inflammation is more severe, you may experience severe pain in the chest, neck, shoulders or back.
What are the links with the flu?
The case of the little girl from Piacenza who died for fulminant myocarditis opens an important relative. In fact, the little girl had been showing flu symptoms for a few days, even improving. It is not uncommon for myocarditis to develop as inflammation following a flu and the little girl, specifically, had a type B influenza virus.
But why is there this link between flu and myocarditis? There myocarditis it is often a response of the body to infection. Over time it has been possible to discover which viruses most often risk aggravating the clinical picture leading to myocarditis, among these there are viruses such as Herpes, HIV, Parvovirus or Adenovirus.