Pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 induced cardiac injury from the perspective of the virus

The association between infection and cardiovascular disease has long been recognized in the form of Chagas Disease, Diptheria, tuberculous pericarditis, viral myocarditis, and others. Almost any infectious pathogen can cause myocarditis or heart disease 1. Viral infection has been and is a predominant cause of myocarditis in the developed world, but viruses can also cause disease without the typical cellular inflammatory disease. During the influenza pandemic of 1918, a large number of patients had evidence of heart damage on autopsy 2.