Does the COVID-19 vaccine cause rare cases of myocarditis?
Israeli researchers say with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine heart Inflammation in young men aged 16-30, according to a report submitted to the government this week Ministry of Public Health .. The report concluded that approximately 1 in 5,000 men who received the vaccine could experience this side effect known as myocarditis. So far, the data are not strong enough to prove that the vaccine caused these cases  experts say there are many factors that make it difficult to reliably connect the vaccine to the mind. Masu inflammation , A link under investigation in the United States. It is also important to note that the majority of cases of myocarditis seen after vaccination, if related, have been mild and respond well to anti-inflammatory drugs such as steroids. Said Dr. Alejandro Jordan Villegas of the Department of Pediatrics, an infectious disease specialist at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Childrens Hospital, who was not involved in the report. At this point, the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks, Jordan Birgas told Live Science. In fact, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine to all target groups, including all subjects over the age of 12. And on Friday (June 4th), the CDC emphasized the importance of vaccines for teens with increased COVID-19 hospitalizations in March and April. Encourage parents, relatives and close friends to join me with me to talk to teens about the importance of these preventive strategies and get vaccinated, said CDC director Rochelle Walensky. Dr. Ski said. Said in a statement .. In an Israeli report led by Dr. Dror Mevorach, director of internal medicine at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, more than 110 cases of myocarditis occurred before and after the COVID-19 vaccination, mainly after the second vaccination. I found out that I did. Of the approximately 5 million people vaccinated nationwide. This is one in 50,000 vaccinated people. However, the majority of people who develop myocarditis are young men, and the proportion of men between the ages of 16 and 24 (accounting for 10% of the vaccinated population) is estimated to be 1 in 5,000. .. However, young men are generally more susceptible to myocarditis than women, According to the National Rare Disease Organization .. According to data from one hospital, the Hadassah Medical Center, the rate of cases of myocarditis in the hospital in recent months was five to 25 times higher than in the last few years. , The report states. However, the breakdown of cases by year and the age group of cases were not included in the report. In response to the report, Pfizer said it was aware of the findings, but said that a causal link between myocarditis and its vaccine had not been established. According to Reuters ..  One of the difficulties in determining whether the COVID-19 vaccine is associated with myocarditis is the unknown actual incidence of myocarditis in the general population. According to Dr. Billegas, Jordan, doctors believe the prevalence is about 2-3 per 100,000 people per year, but this could be even higher due to the potential for underreporting. (Emphasis on how difficult it is to know the prevalence underlying the condition, Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia The incidence of viral myocarditis is estimated to be 10 to 22 cases per 100,000 people annually. Therefore, it is difficult to determine whether it is really increasing or not, he said of the Israeli findings. In addition, myocarditis itself is usually caused by viral infections, especially the following causes: Virus Known as an enterovirus, Jordan Birgas said. And during this time, in the summer months, doctors usually see an increase in enterovirus cases, making it difficult to establish a link specific to the COVID-19 vaccine. The Israeli report also does not include information on the incidence of myocarditis in the unvaccinated population. This is not evidence, its just a signal that we need to investigate this phenomenon, said Dr. Eyal Reshem, director of the Travel Medicine and Tropical Diseases Center at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel. Jerusalem Post .. Still, the timing of myocarditis is interesting. In most cases, it occurred within 1 to 5 days of the second injection, the report said. This means that the time of onset of a patients symptoms is not random. These findings increase the likelihood of a causal link between the vaccine and myocarditis, the report said. In the United States, researchers are also observing: Increase in case of myocarditis Reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). VAERS is a national vaccine safety monitoring system that can report post-vaccination health problems. Recently, VAERS data showed that within 30 days of receiving a second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, there were more cases of myocarditis between the ages of 16 and 24 than expected. It was. Advisory Committee on Immunization for CDC (ACIP) However, VAERS is not designed to detect whether a vaccine causes an adverse event. Anyone can report the event and the system does not compare the case rates of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, which helps determine if the link is really causal. Another small vaccine monitoring system in the United States, called the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), compares the incidence of adverse events in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients in nine hospital systems. I will. However, according to ACIP, so far the incidence of myocarditis due to VSD has never been higher than expected. However, these data need to be followed carefully as people in the younger age group are vaccinated, ACIP said. for now, CDC advises Parents and adolescents should be aware of myocarditis symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, tiredness, fast heartbeat, and heart pounding. If your child develops these symptoms within a week of COVID-19 vaccination, you should seek medical attention. Initially published in Live Science.