Great article about effects of Covid 19 on young athletes
I was looking up information on the decisions of major college conferences to shut down fall sports and came across a great article published yesterday in Sports Illustrated. It's somewhat long (but well worth reading), so I'm just quoting a few of the highlights.
At the Heart of It: Cardiac Inflammation the Next Virus Hurdle for College Leaders
https://www.si.com/college/2020/08/09/ncaa-cardiac-inflamation-coronavirus-myocarditis-concerns
Dr. Matthew Martinez has studied so many images of a beating heart that he couldn’t possibly count them. Maybe 500,000. Maybe 1 million. As a non-invasive cardiologist, his job revolves around the constant evaluation of pictures of the heart.
He knows what a strong, healthy heart looks like. He knows what a poor, struggling heart looks like. And he knows what a heart looks like after COVID-19’s tentacles have reached the most vital organ in the human body. “This virus,” he says, “seems to have an affinity for causing damage to the heart.”
In a small percentage of infected patients, COVID-19 leaves behind troubling scars in the throbbing muscle within their chests, known as myocarditis. The virus directly invades the heart muscle, weakening and damaging its cells, through blood clots and inflammatory responses to viral infection. Earlier during the pandemic, doctors only associated the condition with severe and, oftentimes, hospitalized COVID victims, usually elderly patients or those with underlying health problems.
Lately, physicians are identifying the condition in young, healthy Americans — including athletes. “The last month or two, even asymptomatic young people are developing myocardial injury,” Martinez says.
<snip>
“That’s what has been the final straw,” says a team doctor at a prominent college football program. “The commissioners are finally figuring it all out. The commissioners are going, ‘Oh my gosh!’ And the doctors are like, ‘Yeah...’”
<snip>
“That’s what people aren’t getting,” says a high-ranking MAC administrator with knowledge of the presidents’ call Saturday. “It’s pulmonary, cardiac issues.”
<snip>
A recent German study released in July revealed heart inflammation in 60 of 100 recovered virus patients. That number included patients who were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.
A college team doctor told Sports Illustrated on Saturday that he’s aware of roughly 10 COVID-related heart impacts in all of college football, many or all of them from mildly symptomatic players. While the number is a fraction of the total population, the potential consequences of heart injury are grievous. Myocarditis symptoms include chest pain, abnormal heartbeat, shortness of breath and, in the most serious case, sudden death. Already, myocarditis represents roughly 2-5% of all sudden death cases in American sports.
While many COVID-related myocarditis cases in athletes remain private, some have emerged publicly. Left-handed pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, projected as the Red Sox No. 1 pitcher this year, developed myocarditis after contracting COVID-19. He will miss the 2020 season. The mother of an Indiana offensive lineman suggested in a Facebook post earlier this week that her son may have heart complications as an after effect of the virus.
At least one college football player has developed an enlarged heart after contracting COVID-19, a team trainer told SI under the condition of anonymity. The recovery time for such heart damage is a minimum of three months of no activity, says Martinez.
= new reply since forum marked as read
