New Trends in the Development of Treatments of Viral Myocarditis

Viral myocarditis is caused by a variety of viruses of more than 10 genera, such as coxsackievi‐ rus, adenovirus, parvovirus, hepatitis c virus, herpes virus, influenza virus, HIV, etc. [1]. How‐ ever, the most frequently reported and extensively studied one is coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), which causes ~30% of all viral myocarditis cases [2]. Thus, in this chapter the review will main‐ ly focus on CVB3-induced myocarditis. This virus can infect multiple organs of human such as heart, pancreas, brain, liver, lung, spleen, etc. and cause myocarditis, pancreatitis, meningitis, hepatitis, etc. However, the most fatal disease is myocarditis, particular in children and young people [3]. Viral myocarditis is characterized by inflammatory infiltration of immune cells in the heart muscle after viral infection. This viral infection can cause direct damage of cardio‐ myocytes as well as immune-mediated destructions of the myocardium, leading to cardiac dysfunction. In addition, viral myocarditis often progresses into dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), an end-stage heart dysfunction. Patients with DCM usually require heart transplanta‐ tion [4]. There is no other treatment option at the present. Viral myocarditis is one of the major life-threatening diseases in children. It is the cause of ~ 20% of sudden unexpected death in young people [5]. To date, there is no specific treatment for this viral infection.