What causes pericarditis?
The viruses that cause pericarditis include those that cause influenza, polio, and rubella (German measles). In children, the most common viruses that cause pericarditis are the adenovirus and the cocksackievirus (which is most likely to affect
children during warmer weather).
Although pericarditis is usually caused by a virus, it also can be caused by an injury to the heart or it can follow a heart attack. It may also be caused by certain inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus. Bacteria, fungi, parasites, tuberculosis, cancer or kidney failure may also affect the pericardium.
Other rare causes of acute pericarditis include radiation therapy to treat cancers in the chest, a tumor that has originated in the chest or spread (metastasized) to the pericardium from another part of the body, syphilis, a fungal infection or a parasitic infection. When no definite cause can be determined, acute pericarditis is referred to as acute idiopathic pericarditis.
In some people with pericarditis, a fluid (effusion) accumulates within the saclike pericardium, a condition called pericardial effusion. If the pericardial effusion is large enough, it can interfere with the heart's ability to fill normally and to pump blood, a condition called cardiac tamponade. In other people, acute pericarditis progresses to constrictive pericarditis, a condition in which the inflamed pericardium thickens and contracts around the heart, interfering with heart function. |
