This study provides strong virological evidence that Coxsackie B viruses are a major cause of acute myocarditis and a significant cause of acute pericarditis, but are not associated with chronic cardiac disease.
Virological examination of 385 patients with suspected heart disease and 26 with Bornholm disease over a period of 6 years suggested that Coxsackie group B virus infections were associated with at least half the cases of acute myocarditis and one third of the cases of acute non-bacterial pericarditis. Complement-fixation tests revealed only a few cardiac illnesses associated with other infections (influenza and Mycoplasma pneumoniae). No evidence of infection was found in chronic cardiac disease.
Grist et al. (Tue,) studied this question.