COVID-19 ’ s Impact on Heart Health Still Confounds Doctors

(ST. LOUIS) — Firefighter and paramedic Mike Camilleri once had no trouble hauling heavy gear up ladders. Now battling long COVID, he gingerly steps onto a treadmill to learn how his heart handles a simple walk. “This is, like, not a tough-guy test so don’t fake it,” warned Beth Hughes, a physical therapist at Washington University in St. Louis. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Somehow, a mild case of COVID-19 set off a chain reaction that eventually left Camilleri with dangerous blood pressure spikes, a heartbeat that raced with slight exertion, and episodes of intense chest pain. Doctors were stumped until Camilleri found a Washington University cardiologist who’d treated patients with similar post-COVID heart trouble. “Finally a turn in the right direction,” said the 43-year-old Camilleri. He started to see a little improvement –- only to have a recent reinfection knock him down again. Well into the pandemic’s fourth year, how profound a toll COVID-19 has taken on the nation’s heart health is only starting to emerge. “We are seeing effects on the heart and the vascular system that really outnumber, unfortunately, effects on other organ systems,” said Dr. Susan Cheng, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. For up to a year after a case of COVID-19, people may be at increased risk of developing a new heart-related problem, anything from blood clots...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news