Introduction
The inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) can have many causes. If it is caused by viral or bacterial pathogens, there is a drastically increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest under physical exertion and death as a result. Just under 5% of sudden cardiac deaths occur at the bottom of a spread viral infection! For this reason, physical protection should be exercised in the case of a diagnosed viral heart muscle inflammation.
Development of heart muscle inflammation
It is noticeable that there is a significantly higher incidence of heart muscle inflammation during the cold season. This is due to the increased risk of contracting a flu virus during this period. On the one hand, these viruses trigger the typical symptoms of a flu or cold, i.e. mainly fever, tiredness and fatigue, joint and limb pain and possibly coughing and/or rhinitis.
As a rule, this disease heals without complications. However, if an affected person is physically overexerted, i.e. does a lot of sport, there is a possibility that the viruses will spread in the body. In the worst case, the viruses attack the heart muscle and damage it, causing an inflammation of the heart muscle.
In this case, the human immune system “confuses” the viruses with cells of the heart muscles because they are similar in their surface structure and then attacks its own body cells instead of the viruses. A few pathogens, however, also damage the heart muscle through a direct attack, such as the diphtheria-triggering bacteria or Borrelia bacteria. In principle, this can always happen once the viruses have entered the body, but the risk is greatly increased under physical stress.
For this reason, flu sufferers are advised to take a break from training for about two to three weeks from the beginning of their illness. After this period, during which bed rest is best maintained, the patient can slowly resume the usual sporting activities. This may also be of interest to you: Sport after a cold – from when?
The tricky thing about the disease is that the heart muscle inflammation does not directly trigger symptoms. Those affected often experience a feeling of weakness, cardiac dysrhythmia, palpitations and/or heart pain. However, these symptoms can be very mild or completely absent, so that a patient does not notice anything about the potentially life-threatening inflammation. However, if the body continues to be exposed to stresses that are beyond its capacity to cope with in this state, acute deterioration may occur, which in the worst case leads to sudden cardiac arrest.
