Is myocarditis contagious?

When it comes to the disease of myocarditis, I believe many people will feel very unfamiliar with it. Myocarditis is a disease caused by inflammation of the myocardium due to various reasons. In addition, many people are worried about the infectiousness of myocarditis. In particular, some patients with myocarditis are very afraid that their disease will be transmitted to their children, causing their children to become sick. So is myocarditis contagious?

Experts told us that myocarditis can be mild or severe. Patients with mild cases generally do not have any special symptoms, but severe cases may lead to heart failure or even death. Therefore, if there are patients suspected of having this type of disease, they should seek medical attention as soon as possible. Below I will give you a detailed introduction to the question of whether myocarditis is contagious.

Myocarditis refers to inflammatory lesions of the myocardium caused by various reasons. Various factors such as infection, physical and chemical factors can cause myocarditis. The severity of the myocardial damage caused varies greatly, and the clinical manifestations are different. Mild patients have no symptoms, while severe patients may suffer from heart failure, cardiogenic shock and even sudden death. Most patients can recover after treatment, but some patients develop dilated cardiomyopathy after the acute phase and may suffer from recurrent heart failure.

Causes

The causes of myocarditis can be divided into the following

1. Infectious factors: viruses such as coxsackie virus, echovirus, influenza virus, adenovirus, hepatitis virus, etc.; bacteria such as diphtheria bacteria, streptococcus, etc.; fungi; rickettsia; spirochetes; protozoa, etc. Among them, viral myocarditis is the most common. 2. Autoimmune diseases: such as systemic lupus erythematosus and giant cell myocarditis 3. Physical factors: such as myocardial damage caused by chest radiotherapy. 4. Chemical factors: such as various drugs, some antibiotics, tumor chemotherapy drugs, etc.

Clinical manifestations

Myocarditis can occur in people of all ages, but is more common in young and middle-aged people. For myocarditis caused by infectious reasons, there are often symptoms of primary infection first. For example, viral ones often have fever, sore throat, cough, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, etc. Most of the symptoms of myocarditis appear 1 to 3 weeks after the viral infection. Regardless of the cause of myocarditis, the clinical symptoms of myocarditis are related to the characteristics of myocardial damage. For example, patients with arrhythmia as the main manifestation may experience palpitations, and severe cases may have blackouts and syncope; patients with heart failure as the main manifestation may experience various symptoms of heart failure such as dyspnea; severe cases may develop cardiogenic shock and related manifestations of shock; if the inflammation involves the pericardium and pleura, symptoms of chest tightness and chest pain may occur; some patients may also have manifestations similar to angina pectoris. Common physical signs include sinus tachycardia that is not parallel to body temperature, sinus bradycardia and various arrhythmias may also occur. Heart border enlargement accounts for 1/3 to 1/2 of patients, which is seen in severe myocarditis. Heart enlargement can cause mitral or tricuspid valve regurgitation, systolic murmur at the apex or left lower edge of the sternum, diastolic gallop rhythm and weakened first heart sound may be heard in patients with severe myocardial damage or heart failure, pericardial friction sound may be heard in patients with pericarditis, and mild cases may be completely asymptomatic and sudden death may occur.

Is myocarditis contagious?

Myocarditis is a complex disease. Many patients are concerned about whether myocarditis is contagious. In fact, myocarditis is not contagious, but patients need to pay attention to keeping the indoor environment ventilated and avoid going to crowded places to avoid viral infection. In addition, it should be noted that viral myocarditis has a higher incidence rate in children and is more harmful. Be sure to keep your children warm and avoid taking them to crowded places during the flu season. Generally, children are relatively young and cannot express themselves. They may experience symptoms such as fatigue, laziness, irritability, stuffiness, shortness of breath, etc. They often have a history of respiratory or intestinal infection before the onset of the disease, such as colds, diarrhea, etc. However, if any of the above symptoms appears, it does not necessarily mean myocarditis. Parents should take their children to the hospital for examination in time, avoid using antibiotics indiscriminately, and seek early detection and treatment.

treat

There is currently no specific treatment for myocarditis. The main emphasis is on bed rest to reduce the burden on the heart and tissue damage. If accompanied by arrhythmia, the patient should rest in bed for 2 to 4 weeks and then gradually increase the amount of activity. If severe myocarditis is accompanied by cardiac enlargement, the patient should rest for 6 months to a year until the clinical symptoms completely disappear and the heart size returns to normal. Treatments for arrhythmia, heart failure, and cardiogenic shock were used respectively. Immunosuppressants have not achieved universally recognized clinical efficacy and are therefore not recommended for routine use. The use of hormones is still controversial, but hormones can be used for patients with severe myocarditis accompanied by atrioventricular block or cardiogenic shock. If necessary, hydrocortisone or dexamethasone can also be used for intravenous administration.

Prognosis

Most patients recover after proper treatment without any remaining symptoms or signs. A very small number of patients die during the acute phase due to severe arrhythmias, acute heart failure and cardiogenic shock. The condition of some patients stabilizes after several weeks or months, but there is a certain degree of heart enlargement, decreased cardiac energy, arrhythmias or electrocardiogram changes, which may persist and is caused by myocardial scarring after the acute phase. Some patients develop chronic myocarditis due to persistent inflammation after the acute phase, and gradually develop progressive heart enlargement, decreased cardiac function and arrhythmias, and die from the above-mentioned complications after several years or longer. The time division of each stage is difficult to determine. Generally, the acute stage is within 6 months, the recovery stage is from 6 months to 1 year, and the chronic stage is more than 1 year. Chronic patients with unclear acute stage are difficult to distinguish from cardiomyopathy.

After reading the detailed answer to the question of whether myocarditis is contagious, I believe everyone has some knowledge and understanding of this disease. Experts told us that myocarditis is actually not infectious and there is no need to worry too much. However, patients with myocarditis should avoid crowded and poorly ventilated places to avoid viral infection. In addition, if you have symptoms of suspected myocarditis, you should go to a regular hospital for examination and treatment in time.