Although they are recovering in the short term, there is a growing fear that athletes with COVID-19 will face potentially greater long-term physical fitness purposes.
Recent studies have shown an alarming number of cases of myocarditis, or inflammation of the central muscle, in others who in the past had tested positive for coronavirus but no longer had symptoms. The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published the effects of an examination of a hundred patients who had recovered from COVID-19. Cardiac imaging showed “heart deterioration” in 78% of patients and 60% “continuous inflammation of the myocardium” in participants.
NCAA medical director Dr. Brian Hainline said Thursday at a press conference organized by the Society of Infectious Diseases of America that between 1% and 2% of NCAA athletes who tested positive for COVID-19, at least a dozen tested positive for COVID-19. . he later discovered he had myocarditis.
“We know that if you have an active center involved in a virus, this virus turns out to be more than any other virus we’ve seen,” Matthew Martinez, a cardiologist representing the NBA Players Association, recently told USA TODAY. Sports.
Undiagnosed and untreated, myocarditis can cause heart damage and cardiac arrest, which can be fatal. As a result, medical experts have suggested heart tests for athletes returning to the game after contracting the virus.
An MLB player lost his 2020 season after he was diagnosed with myocarditis.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez tested positive for coronavirus before the team began summer training.
“I’ve never been so unhealthy in my life and I don’t need to be unwell anymore,” Rodriguez said.
Doctors later discovered that he had developed myocarditis in his recovery from COVID-19, and the Red Sox stopped him for the season.
The NBA has added center selection to its needs list for players who test positive before they can play in the league bubble near Orlando, Florida again.
“This extension is now with COVID-19 because initial reports indicated that it had a high prevalence of inpatient involvement,” Martinez said. “They were sicker patients, and about 30% would have a central condition. That’s what changed things.
Even NBA players who have tested positive but have developed COVID-19-related symptoms in the last 3 months want to have an assessment of the center.
While athletes are expected to have compatibility to fight the virus to a greater extent than the average person, MLB and NBA have the resources and medical experience to ensure their players get the highest point of attention. This would possibly not be the case for amateur athletes.
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Earlier this month, Brady Feeney, a freshman offensive lineman at Indiana University, asked his mother to describe her coVID-19 issues in an emotional Facebook message.
“After 14 days of hell battling the terrible virus, her school ran more tests on everyone who tested positive,” Deborah Rucker wrote. “My son even underwent more tests because it was one of the worst cases. Now we’re dealing with imaginable problems downtown! He’s still experiencing more symptoms, and his blood tests involve more problems.”
“At the end of the day, even if your child’s schools do whatever it takes for them, they CAN’t BE PROTECTED!”
Last month, the NCAA issued COVID-19 recommendations to schools that come with self-help checks and tests within 72 hours of competition. However, the organization last revised its heart testing rules in 2016, encouraging the detection of athletes who are threatened with disorders of the center but do not require their involvement.
“There are things about this virus that we’ve never noticed with other viruses before,” Said Dr. Jonathan Kim, director of sports cardiology at Emory University, at a press conference. “I think with only some of those reports that they have publicly stated that they have had myocarditis, this confirms the need for a conservative technique to remain an appropriate plan.”
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The NHL reflects the core of the NBA in its Phase Four protocols (back in the game). Players will have to go through an ECG, echocardiography and superior sensitivity control for troponins, which can help report imaginable problems of the center. And all players must be authorized by a cardiologist, as well as a team doctor, before they can resume their gaming activities.
The NFL also requires a heart test for all players who have performed COVID-19 tests and have recovered or performed COVID antibody tests.
“I think they’re important,” Allen Sills, the NFL’s leading medical officer, said to reporters Wednesday on a conference call, adding that the league was looking to have “conversations when players tested positive about what screening means and what screening means. it’s best to rule out any of those complications. »
MLB lists an optional “at the discretion of the team doctor” for players who tested positive.
While athletes would likely have more tests and remedies for the new coronavirus, it has been guilty of more than five million cases of COVID-19 and more than 163,000 deaths in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The potential long-term effects of the centre are a cause for concern.
Although so far there have been only a few documented cases of myocarditis in high-level athletes, doctors are involved in the effect of resumption of activity in the event of a central injury.
“We know that if you exercise when you have an active inflammation or a central injury that is a known cause of sudden death, we want to evaluate that,” Martinez said.
“Because this disease is so new, we are literally told more every month.”
Contribution: Aria Gerson, Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz, Dan Wolken, Jeff Zillgitt
Follow Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner.