How does Alcoholism/virus destroy the heart

[Sharon__0__0]

     Can you please tell me how a virus destroyes heart muscle and how could the consumption of alcohol enlarge the heart or cause cardiomyopathy?  I read that when a virus enters the system it permieates the cell wall and multiplies... flu like symtoms are a result of the white blood cells attacking the virus, not the virus itself.  My husband had a heart transplant 1.5 years ago and he and I both are just trying to figure out how it happened, as he's only 35 years old.  Thank you very much for you time... I can say with full honesty that the informatin I have received from the Heart Forum has literally saved my husband's life and my sanity.    

[CCF Cardio MD - MTR]

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Dear Sharon, thank you for your follow-up question.  As you may recall in my previous response to your question, I mentioned that the causes of dilated cardiomyopathy are often multifactorial and a viral cardiomyopathy is usually a diagnosis of exclusion.  Certain viruses have an affinity for the heart muscle and can become incorporated in the cellular machinery to cause the damage that is seen.  Viruses can take over normal cells in a quest to produce more viruses which may destroy the cell or alter the cell so that it no longer makes enough proteins to function normally.  In viral cardiomyopathy, both processes probably occur so that some heart muscle cells are destroyed while other cells just don't work well after the viral infection.  I can't really say why a virus may leave the rest of the body alone and just attack the heart since it's not known why that happens.  But, we do know that treating patients with dilated cardiomyopathy with antiviral drugs does nothing to alter the course of their illness.  Overall, I think it is important for you and your husband to look to the future with his new heart and new lease on life.  It may be counterproductive to try to figure out why he developed cardiomyopathy at this point since the past is behind him now.
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.   The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.