Abstract

Aim: To highlight the relationship between heart disease and viral Coxsackie virus B infection. The study included heart disease patients who have confirmed cases of heart disease and entered the open-heart center in Sadr Medical City.

Methods: Patients were divided into three categories: patients with myocarditis, patients with other heart disease and patients with rheumatic arthritis. 224 blood samples were taken from these patients’ involved87 males and 137 females to investigate rheumatoid arthritis as well as to investigate viral infections byserological and molecular technique in order to detect antiviral antibodies and viral nucleic acid.

Results: Out of all studied samples, there were 37.5% positive results for viral infection among heart disease patients,: 47.6% of them those with rheumatic arthritis and 52.4% without rheumatic arthritis.

Conclusion: The recent study indicated that 80% of infected patients with myocarditis and the remaining 20% with other heart diseases.

Keywords: Coxsackieviruses, Myocarditis, Heart disease, Rheumatic arthritis, ELISA, RT-PCR.