The coronavirus must have caught everyone’s attention by now, health experts say. And, people with heart disease have additional reasons to stay alert.

The disease caused by the virus,  COVID-19, which was initially reported in the city of Wuhan in China this past December, has sickened  hundreds of thousands of people around the world, with thousands of deaths.

The concerns are serious for people with underlying heart problems. It appears that people over 65  with coronary heart disease, or hypertension, are more likely to become infected and develop more severe symptoms. In February, the American College of Cardiology issued a  warning bulletin to inform patients of the potential for elevated risks, and to encourage “additional and reasonable precautions.”

The bulletin mentioned that according to initial reports, 40% of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 also had cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases (which refer to blood flow in the brain, as in a stroke). Different parts of the country see different levels of viral activity, and the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends  that people at the highest risk stay home when possible, as well as avoid crowds and limit their contact with other people.

The virus could affect heart disease patients in a number of ways, said Orly Vardeny, an associate professor of medicine at the Minneapolis Veterans Medical System and the University of Minnesota.

The main target of viruses are the lungs. However, that could affect the heart, especially in the case of a diseased heart, which has to work harder to move oxygenated blood throughout the body, said Vardeny, an adviser to the ACC newsletter. “In general, you can think of it as something that weighs heavily on the system as a whole.”

That could exacerbate problems in people with heart failure, with which it is already difficult for the heart to pump efficiently.

Someone with an underlying heart problem may also have a less robust immune system. Vardeny said the immune system weakens with age. And, “in the case of people with chronic medical conditions,” the body’s immune response is not as strong when exposed to a virus. “

If a person becomes infected with a virus, he added, the pathogen could become more entrenched and cause complications.

Viruses can also pose a special risk in people with a buildup of fat in the arteries, called plaque, Vardeny added. Evidence indicates that similar viral diseases can destabilize these plaques, which could lead to blockages in the arteries that feed the heart and put patients at risk of having a heart attack.

Vardeny emphasized that information about COVID-19  is changing almost every hour. However, older coronaviruses, such as SARS and MERS, give us important information. These were linked to problems such as inflammation of the heart muscle, heart attacks, and sudden-onset heart failure, the ACC newsletter noted.

COVID-19 is also flu-like, said Vardeny, who is a volunteer with the American Heart Association. At the moment, he said, “we don’t think that the risk itself is greater, it is just that it is spreading faster.” And, unlike influenza (flu), there is no vaccine.

Covid-19’s number of confirmed cases is growing quickly. In Wuhan, 2 to 4 percent of the population died of this illness, but outside of Wuhan, just 0.7 percent died.

By comparison, as of mid-March, the  CDC  estimated  that there have been at least 36 million cases of influenza, with 370,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths from the disease, in the United States and this season.

Vardeny indicated that many of the same precautions that work against influenza should be useful in helping against COVID-19, because it seems to be contracted in the same way: through droplets that are in the air when someone coughs. or sneezes.

For now, she suggests that people defend themselves by washing their hands, keeping surfaces clean and avoiding travel to areas with outbreaks of the disease. On March 16, the White House asked the American people to follow new guidelines for two weeks, which include: avoiding gatherings of more than 10 people and ceasing optional trips, shopping trips, social visits and trips to restaurants or bars.

The ACC newsletter recommends that people with cardiovascular disease stay up-to-date with their vaccinations, including pneumonia. The ACC also encourages getting vaccinated against influenza to prevent an additional source of fever that could potentially be mistaken for a coronavirus infection.

At a press conference in February, before the latest waves of confirmed cases swept throughout the nation, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Joanne Gross, cautioned that the inhabitants needed to prepare. Stay home if you are unwell; hide your cough; wash your hands, Messonnier said.

Since that press conference, the country has been grappling with widespread closures of workplaces, schools, and more.

“I understand that this situation seems overwhelming and that the disruption of daily life could be serious,” he said.

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