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Review
. 2021 Apr;12(2):53-59.
doi: 10.14740/cr1216. Epub 2021 Jan 24.

Rabies and the Heart

Bryce Alexander  1 , Jose Patricio Lopez-Lopez  2 , Clara Saldarriaga  3 , Carlos I Ponte-Negretti  4 , Ricardo Lopez-Santi  5 , Gonzalo Emanuel Perez  6 , Mildren Del Sueldo  7 , Fernando Lanas  8 , Kiera Liblik  1 , Adrian Baranchuk  1
Affiliations
Review

Rabies and the Heart

Bryce Alexander et al. Cardiol Res. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

As one of the neglected diseases, rabies is as a highly fatal viral infection, most prevalent in low- and middle-income regions, which produces a substantial health and economic burden. It mainly affects the central nervous system causing encephalitis, however extraneuronal involvement has been documented. Cardiac structures may be involved and can play a role in the severity of the disease. Most of the existing literature comes from case reports and case series where cardiac involvement results in myocarditis and cardiac arrhythmias. As part of the "Neglected Tropical Diseases and Other Infectious Diseases Involving the Heart" (NET-HEART Project), the objective of this article is to review all the information available on the cardiac involvement of this disease.

Keywords: Blood vessels; Cardiac arrhythmias; Heart; Myocarditis; Pericarditis; Rabies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Human deaths from rabies. (b) Death rates per capita (per 100,000 population); countries shaded in grey are free from canine rabies (Adapted from: TRS 3rd report, 2017, http://www.who.int/rabies/epidemiology/en/)
Figure 2
Figure 2
PRISMA flow diagram demonstrating search strategy used. PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mechanism of rabies infection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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