Acute cardiac disease in a young patient with Campylobacter jejuni infection: a case report

Infectious myocarditis is a life-threatening condition because it can lead to arrhythmia, dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. A large number of different infectious causes have been identified as leading to myocarditis, with enteroviral infections being the most common reasons.

We present a rare Austrian case of bacterial-induced myocarditis in a 19-year-old immunocompetent male without any cardiac risk factors. Four days prior to the onset of severe left thoracic pain the patient developed acute gastroenteritis. The initial electrocardiogram showed sinus tachycardia, strain on the right side of the heart and signs of myocardial injury. Cardiac enzyme markers creatine kinase and troponin T were elevated to maximum values of 627 U/l and 0.52 ng/ml. Stool cultures revealed the presence of Campylobacter jejuni as the only source of infection. The clinical diagnosis of bacterial-induced myocarditis was confirmed by specific radiological findings of inflammation using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.

In recent years, instead of performing endomyocardial biopsies, the clinical diagnosis of bacterial-induced myocarditis can be confirmed by specific radiological findings in combination with positive stool cultures for Enterobacteriaceae. Due to the increasing numbers of Campylobacter infections, myocarditis should be considered as a rare but relevant extraintestinal complication also in immunocompetent patients with Campylobacter jejuni gastroenteritis.