COVID-19 took a toll on heart health and doctors are still grappling with how to help

St. Louis — Firefighter and paramedic Mike Camilleri once had no trouble hauling heavy gear up ladders. Now battling long COVID, he gingerly steps onto a treadmill to learn how his heart handles a simple walk.

“This is, like, not a tough-guy test so don’t fake it,” warned Beth Hughes, a physical therapist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Somehow, a mild case of COVID-19 set off a chain reaction that eventually left Camilleri with dangerous blood pressure spikes, a heartbeat that raced with slight exertion, and episodes of intense chest pain. Doctors were stumped until Camilleri found a Washington University cardiologist who’d treated patients with similar post-COVID heart trouble.

Patient Mike Camilleri works with physical therapist Beth Hughes in St. Louis, Mo., on March 1, 2023. Somehow, a mild case of COVID-19 set off a chain reaction that eventually left Camilleri with dangerous blood pressure spikes, a heartbeat that raced with slight exertion, and episodes of intense chest pain.

“Finally a turn in the right direction,” said the 43-year-old Camilleri.

He started to see a little improvement –- only to have a recent reinfection knock him down again.

Well into the pandemic’s fourth year, how profound a toll COVID-19 has taken on the nation’s heart health is only starting to emerge.

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