The fine line between virus, heart symptoms

Virus season can prompt confusion for heart patients, as symptoms of serious cardiovascular conditions often mirror those of respiratory illnesses, according to New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System.

Cardiologists at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital said patients have mistaken symptoms of serious heart conditions for respiratory illnesses this virus season.

"For example, some patients have shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, swelling, and palpitations, and assume their symptoms are linked to a cold, when in fact they were actually in heart failure," Johanna Contreras, MD, a cardiologist at the hospital, said in a Jan. 23 news release. 

The hospital has also seen an increase in complications among heart patients who have developed a respiratory illness, including fever, dehydration and increased heart inflammation. These cases have risen across all age groups in recent months, the system said. 

Physicians have also diagnosed more cases of post-viral myocarditis in patients without existing heart conditions. 

"Other patients who have had persistent chest pain and palpitations after acute viral illness may need to consider that, in fact, this could be myocarditis," Dr. Contreras said.  

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