Evi Van Acker was traveling in Costa Rica a year ago. She had contracted the flu in Belgium, and at her destination the virus started to manifest itself. So much so that she had to be admitted to hospital with a serious heart infection.
Inflammation of the heart muscle
“I actually initially had an inflammation of my pericardium. They did a puncture to remove the fluid around my heart. But the inflammation then reached my heart muscle quite quickly. They kept me in an artificial coma for 36 to 48 hours because I could no longer breathe independently,” Van Acker told Het Nieuwsblad.
Can save lives
She ended up being in the hospital for more than a month. “At a certain point there were not so many options left for me. They were able to save my life with an aortic pump. That has resulted in spectacular progress.”
“People are dying from the flu”
Her story shows according to virologist Marc Van Ranst shows that the flu is no laughing matter. “If it were just a cold, we wouldn’t talk about it so much. Virologists write Flu with a capital letter because people die from it,” he told the newspaper.
Also read: Code orange for respiratory infections: Important additional recommendations that you must follow now
“In addition to lungs, flu can also affect the heart and organs”
“People wrongly think that the flu only affects the lungs, but that is not the case. For example, the virus can affect the intestines. But also many organs, such as the pericardium or the heart itself. That does not happen often. And it often goes away on its own after a few weeks. But you can also be unlucky. It starts with an infection in the respiratory tract, and then there is pain in the chest.”
