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People who were infected with COVID-19, a strain of the common cold virus that only causes mild symptoms, were once thought to have avoided the virus' most severe side effects.
But new evidence suggests that even healthy people are at risk for heart problems such as myocarditis, including clots and inflammation long after their illness has passed.
The Study: Heart Problems & Covid Vaccine
A study published in Science Immunology found that patients who received Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine developed myocarditis. A study of 23 people, ages 13 to 21, who developed myocarditis after their second dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine found that nine of these patients had elevated cytokine levels.
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The body’s immune system works together with vaccines to fight off bacteria, viruses, and other microbes. But if there are too many cytokines in the body at once, this can cause inflammation in your body. This appears to be what happened in some young men who developed heart inflammation after receiving the Covid vaccine.
The researchers say their findings show that antibodies that target the virus's spike protein do not play a role in heart inflammation. Previous research suggested that heart tissue contains antibodies that may cause inflammation.
The findings could lead to treatments for vaccine-induced myocarditis, a disease that currently has no cure.
How often does myocarditis occur?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that myocarditis or pericarditis following Covid vaccination is rare. More than 25 million doses of the MMR vaccine have been administered to children ages 12 to 15, and more than 14 million doses have been administered to teens ages 16 and 17. As of March 2, there have been 376 confirmed cases in children and 316 confirmed cases in teens.
In another such study of 25 people, who died after receiving an experimental SARS vaccine, were found that four of them had acute myocarditis - a heart muscle inflammation. There was no other significant disease or health problem that could have caused their deaths.
Most cases of myocarditis occur in male teens and young adults after the second dose of a vaccine. However, those vaccines are no longer used in the United States.
Patients who received the Pfizer vaccine developed symptoms of heart inflammation one to four days after their second dose. This finding is applicable to the Moderna vaccine, which also uses mRNA technology.
The study did not answer why the inflammation only affects the heart and not other organs. It also didn't give insight into what long-term health problems people may experience following vaccine-induced myocarditis, which is often milder than the kind caused by viral or bacterial infections.
If you are concerned about the risk of myocarditis after vaccination, it's important to talk to your healthcare provider.
