Study shows Covid is not like the flu — it affects the heart

The Covid-19 infection can damage heart tissue, a new study has found. These findings, published in the journal Immunology, will help experts formulate better treatment for the disease.

The researchers worked with cardiac tissue collected from seven patients who succumbed to Covid-19 in Brazil, two patients who died from influenza, and a control group of six patients. They found that Covid-19 damaged the DNA in heart tissue, which they did not detect in the influenza samples.

The researchers also found that while Covid-19 and influenza are both severe respiratory viruses, they seem to affect cardiac tissue very differently.

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Tissue changes

“In comparison to the 2009 flu pandemic, Covid has led to more severe and long-term cardiovascular disease, but what was causing that at a molecular level was not known,” explained Arutha Kulasinghe from the University of Queensland, Australia.

“During our study, we couldn’t detect viral particles in the cardiac tissues of Covid-19 patients, but what we found was tissue changes associated with DNA damage and repair,” Kulasinghe added.

DNA damage and repair mechanisms are related to chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, atherosclerosis, and neurodegenerative disorders. So, understanding why this is happening in Covid-19 patients is important, the researchers said.

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“Not just like the flu”

Data associated with the impact of Covid-19 on the heart was previously limited to blood biomarkers and physiological measurement, as obtaining heart biopsy samples is invasive.

“When we looked at the influenza cardiac tissue samples, we identified that it caused excess inflammation,” said Professor John Fraser, who established the international Covid-19 Critical Care Consortium. “Whereas, we found Covid-19 attacked the heart DNA—probably directly and not just as a knock-on from inflammation,” he added.

“What we have categorically shown is that Covid is not just like the flu,” said Fraser. “This study helps us understand how Covid-19 affects that heart, and that is the first step in working out what treatments might be best to repair that heart,” he added.

(With agency inputs)