Severe chest pain doesn’t always mean a heart attack. In five percent of emergency room cases, the pain is actually a rare heart condition called pericarditis.
It’s an inflammation of the protective sac that surrounds the heart. While not deadly, it can cause severe pain.
The condition is most commonly caused by viruses such as COVID-19 and the flu. Infections from the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an increase in the rare condition.
“We went through this terrible scenario where, you know, thousands, millions of people were getting infected all at the same time. so we were able to see the real impact of infection on cardiovascular disease and including pericarditis.”
Dr. Antonio Abbate, Cardiologist at UVA
With treatment, pericarditis goes away. In rare cases, however, it can come back. Recurrent pericarditis impacts around 40,000 people in the U.S.
