A 31-year-old male patient with confirmed monkeypox infection developed acute myocarditis several days after the onset of skin lesions, according to a report published September 2, 2022, in the Journals of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).
It has been reported to have developed Myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle (myocardium), which is a condition that can affect the heart’s ability to pump blood. In addition, it can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, and fast or irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias).
In simple terms, monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease (a virus that is transmitted from animals to humans) that resembles (in the past) the symptoms seen in smallpox patients but has been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO). Its executive director, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared the current monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency internationally (PHEIC) in July this year.
Based on cardiac magnetic resonance studies, a case study confirmed myocardial inflammation. The patient subsequently received supportive care and made a complete clinical recovery. However, this case highlights cardiac involvement as a possible complication associated with monkeypox, the case study says.
Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, a member of the genus Orthopoxvirus of the family Poxviridae. (Representative/Wikicommons)
According to Dr. Sheela Murali Chakravarthy Chief of Internal Medicine, Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta His Road, Bangalore, Viral diseases cause inflammation in the body both by cause and effect. “Any organ can become inflamed, but the most common are the nerves and the heart, as they require a lot of energy. can cause heart problems and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain),” says Dr. Murali Chakravarthy.
So should we all be worried? Dr. Dwarka’s Ankita Baidya, an infectious disease specialist at his HCMCT Manipal Hospital, said that in clinical scenarios like this “special case study,” the odds are slim. “As seen in the case report, the patient was a special case of a situation recently covered by Covid-19 and receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV,” she said.
She, too, agreed that viral myocarditis was not new, and that chicken pox could also lead to it in complicated cases. Patients usually present with severe tachycardia, which is less common. Therefore, while there is concern that monkeypox can cause myocarditis, it is not very serious under the current circumstances.
