Slippery slope if athletes are withheld for a condition any virus could / does create.
Myocarditis could be caused by a great number of things, this per HealthJade:
- Viruses. Many viruses are commonly associated with myocarditis, including the viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus); cytomegalovirus ; hepatitis B and C; parvovirus, which causes a mild rash, usually in children (fifth disease); rubeola, varicella, variola/vaccinia, arbovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, yellow fever virus, rabies, parvovirus and herpes simplex virus.Gastrointestinal infections (echoviruses), mononucleosis (Epstein-Barr virus), poliomyelitis, mumps, and German measles (rubella) also can cause myocarditis. It’s also common in people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
- Bacteria. Numerous bacteria can cause myocarditis, including staphylococcus, streptococcus, mycoplasma, tuberculosis, chlamydia, meningococci, brucellosis, clostridia, the bacterium that causes diphtheria, melioidosis, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, psittacosis and the tick-borne bacterium responsible for Lyme disease.
- A chest infection
- Fungal infection
- Parasites. Among these are such parasites as Trypanosoma cruzi, trypanosomiasis, malaria, leishmaniasis, balantidiasis, sarcosporidiosis and toxoplasma, including some that are transmitted by insects and can cause a condition called Chagas disease. This disease is much more prevalent in Central and South America than in the United States, but it can occur in travelers and in immigrants from that part of the world.
- Rickettsial – Scrub typhus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Q fever
- Spirochetal – Syphilis, leptospirosis/Weil disease, relapsing fever/Borrelia, Lyme disease
- Fungi. Yeast infections, such as candida; molds, such as aspergillus; cryptococcosis, actinomycosis, blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis, mucormycosis and other fungi, such as histoplasma, often found in bird droppings, can sometimes cause myocarditis, particularly in people with weakened immune systems.
- Helminthic – Trichinosis, echinococcosis, schistosomiasis, heterophyiasis, cysticercosis, visceral larva migrans, filariasis
- Bites/stings – Scorpion venom, snake venom, black widow spider venom, wasp venom, tick paralysis
- Drugs (usually causing hypersensitivity myocarditis)
- Chemotherapeutic drugs – Doxorubicin and anthracyclines, streptomycin, cyclophosphamide, interleukin-2, anti-HER-2 receptor antibody/Herceptin
- Antibiotics – Penicillin, chloramphenicol, sulfonamides
- Antihypertensive drugs – Methyldopa, spironolactone
- Antiseizure drugs – Phenytoin, carbamazepine
- Amphetamines, cocaine, catecholamines
- Chemicals – Hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, arsenic, lead, phosphorus, mercury, cobalt
- Physical agents (radiation, heatstroke, hypothermia)
- Acute rheumatic fever
- Systemic inflammatory disease – Giant cell myocarditis, sarcoidosis, Kawasaki disease, Crohn disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, ulcerative colitis,
- Wegener granulomatosis, thyrotoxicosis, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis
- Peripartum cardiomyopathy
- Posttransplant cellular rejection
Myocarditis also sometimes occurs if you’re exposed to:
- Medications or illegal drugs that might cause an allergic or toxic reaction. These include drugs used to treat cancer; antibiotics, such as penicillin and sulfonamide drugs; some anti-seizure medications; and some illegal substances, such as cocaine.
- Chemicals or radiation. Exposure to certain chemicals, such as carbon monoxide, and radiation can sometimes cause myocarditis.
- Other diseases. An auto immune disease (when a person’s own immune system attacks their body). These include disorders such as lupus, Wegener’s granulomatosis, giant cell arteritis and Takayasu’s arteritis.
Before the current crisis myocarditis was a condition that can go undiagnosed because those who have it might not have symptoms, according to the
Myocarditis Foundation. If they had symptoms those symptoms can be flu-like or include shortness of breath and heart palpitations, according to the
U.S. National Library of Medicine website. So great, another condition with flu-like symptoms or worse no symptoms.
Because of the current crisis and because myocrarditis has a bigger impacts on athletes the Big 12 will conduct heart health checks, including an EKG, troponin blood test, echocardiogram and cardiac MRI if a player tests positive for Covid-19.
A couple of comments: because of the many potential causes we cannot automatically assume that every case of myocarditis but it is an interesting datapoint for sure; has he compiled the results of all the cardiac MRIs or is he extrapolating since I didn't know until this that the B1G was doing this testing?; Since the Big12 is doing all the above tests what are the results? What about the results of the SEC and ACC testing?