COVID-19-related heart condition could affect athletes

Doctors warn about myocarditis, a heart condition discovered in people recovering from COVID-19, and its affects on athletes.

BIDEN-HARRIS."AND A BIG HIT TOCOLLEGE SPORTS:AS MORE CONFERENCESARE SAYING NO TOPLAYING FOOTBALL THISFALL.THE BIG TEN -- WITHTEAMS LIKE OHIO STATEAND MICHIGAN...AND THE PAC-12 MADETHE ANNOUNCEMENT THISAFTERNOON TO PUSHBACK THE FOOTBALLSEASONS OF ROUGHLYTWO DOZEN TEAMS.NOW THIS COMES AFTERFIVE FOOTBALL PLAYERSIN THE BIG 10 SHAREDTHEIR STORIES ABOUTCONTRACTING COVID-19...AND FOUND A NEWDIAGNOSIS WITH SERIOUSCONSEQUENCES.41 ACTION NEWSREPORTER SARAH PLAKEHEARD FROM LOCALDOCTORS ABOUT THECONDITION.Health officials here in themetro and across the U.S. arewarning about myocarditis inpeople recovering fromcovid-19, and it could havemore of an impact on athletes.Myocarditis a newlydiscovered heart conditionconnected to some covid-19patients.In some cases that can leadto a thinning and a distensionof the heart and a lack offunction in the heart, and evento heart failure and the needfor heart transplant and, and,and bad heart rhythms thatcan lead to death.This is an emerging conditionin people recovering fromcovid19..

That could be evenworse in athletes because ofhigh intensity exercisWe don't know what highintensity exercise might bedoing to heart that's alreadyslightly inflamed.All of those are leading toquestions about the safety ofreturning to high performancesports.Right now the hospital andprofessionals around theUnited States are screeningathletes to better understandhow myocarditis affects theorgans.Our fear is that we could bemissing a lot of disease thatwe can't see and we can't testfor, and that can include verysmall blood vessel clots insidethe heart that lead to moreheart damage so there's a lotof concern right now aboutmyocarditis.Doctors at KU plan to makean assessment on how thiswill affect college and highschool sports in the comingweeks.Sarah Plake 41 action news.