Interesting problems in enteroviral inflammatory heart disease.

Enteroviral inflammatory heart disease is an established entity. Based upon the accumulated work from many laboratories, specific and definitive questions can be posed regarding the pathogenic nature of the viruses involved and how the host immune systems respond to the insult of enterovirus replication in the myocardium. The answers to these questions may well lead to efficient intervention therapies such as vaccination or effective anti-viral compounds, thus eradicating enterovirus-induced heart disease. Understanding the nature of the acute disease is the first requirement toward a complete understanding of the mechanisms at work in chronic inflammatory heart disease.