When Demi Washington, a basketball player at Vanderbilt University came down with COVID-19 in late 2020, her symptoms were mild, just a runny nose.
www.yahoo.com
When Demi Washington, a basketball player at Vanderbilt University came down with COVID-19 in late 2020, her symptoms were mild, just a runny nose. But to ensure her safe return to the court, the school required her to undergo an MRI.
The results brought Washington to tears.
Following the infection, the now college graduate had developed
myocarditis — when the heart muscle becomes inflamed, which can decrease the heart's ability to pump blood. The condition can lead to stroke or heart attack,
according to Mayo Clinic.
Washington was not vaccinated against COVID-19 at the time.
"I was scared because any internal organ, you’re like, 'Oh, my gosh, I need that to live,'" she recalled to TODAY. "I didn’t really know what was going to come of it, how long was it going to take for it to resolve."
Cheng called the connection "more than coincidental, that is for sure." Explaining why, she pointed out that
COVID-19 can greatly impact the cardiovascular system.
"It appears to be able to increase the stickiness of the blood and increase ... the likelihood of blood clot formation," Cheng said. "It seems to stir up inflammation in the blood vessels. It seems to also cause in some people an overwhelming stress — whether it’s related directly to the infection or situations around the infection — that can also cause a spike in blood pressure."
The reason for the relative rise in young people in particular is unclear, but one theory, Cheng said, is that the virus's impact on the cardiovascular system in some people may be due to an excessive immune system response and that young people are more likely to have stronger immune systems.
Some research is beginning to chip away at how COVID-19 impacts the heart. A
February 2023 study found the inflammatory immune response to a COVID-19 infection can cause calcium to leak from the heart, potentially leading to a fatal, irregular heartbeat.
The subjects in this study weren't vaccinated, and research shows a COVID-19 infection is more likely to cause heart problems than vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-----------------------------------
Full story & somemore facts about the virus' impact on the heart at the above link