General information
Inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) is an inflammation of the heart muscle. It can affect the heart muscle cells, the interstitial spaces (interstitium) and the heart muscle vessels. The causes can be different. The most common causes include:
- Viral or bacterial infections
- Sport after infection has not healed
- Autoimmune disease
- Stress
- Alcohol
Infectious causes
Infections, especially from viruses, are by far the most common cause of myocarditis. It is usually triggered by previous flu-like infections, which are carried over into the heart muscle. Myocarditis-triggering viruses are therefore mainly those that cause flu-like symptoms.
Among the most common viral pathogens of myocarditis are those that cause influenza-like symptoms: More rarely, the HI virus and cytomegalovirus (CMV) are considered. The causative agent of three-day fever in infants and small children (i.e. children up to 6 years of age) can also cause heart muscle inflammation. Possible sources of infection are objects contaminated by contact with faeces, such as hands, toys and drinking water.
Bacterial causes of myocarditis include the pathogens that cause the: However, persons with a weakened immune system are more likely to be affected by bacterial myocarditis.
- Enteroviruses
- Coxackie viruses
- ECHO Viruses
- Adenoviruses
- Herpes viruses (especially the human herpes virus 6)
- Parvovirus B19 as pathogen of the ringed rubella.
- Diphtheria
- Tuberculosis
- Lyme borreliosis
- Pneumococcus.
Likewise, various moulds or yeasts and parasites, such as tapeworms and threadworms, can cause myocarditis, but they only make up a small proportion in terms of numbers. The eggs of these parasites are ingested via the food, especially in the form of raw meat, if the food is poorly processed.
In the following hours, they spread via the lymphatic system and the bloodstream after they have matured into adult animals in the intestinal wall. They then settle in the muscle tissue of the host. Fungi, on the other hand, can only become dangerous for patients with a significantly weakened immune system.
Protozoa, i.e. animal unicellular organisms, which are partially parasitic, only play a role in the development of heart muscle inflammation in South America. One example is the pathogen that causes Chagas’ disease. As a rule, the immune system eliminates the pathogen without any problems and spontaneous, effective healing occurs – the infection remains without consequences. However, sometimes viral genetic information (RNA) or viral components are left behind, which maintain the immune response and thus the inflammation. There is also the assumption that a genetically determined susceptibility or receptivity of the affected person clearly favors the transition to a chronic course.
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