Noida Techie Dies Of Heart Attack In The Middle Of Cricket Match

A shocking incident unfolded on Sunday in Noida wherein an engineer collapsed and lost his life to a sudden heart attack while playing cricket. The distressing event, which was captured on a video, showcases the moment Vikas Negi sprinted towards the opposite end of the pitch, intending to complete a run. However, he suddenly collapsed midway. The wicketkeeper and other teammates rushed to his aid, attempting to provide immediate assistance.

Swift action was taken to rush Vikas Negi to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead upon arrival by medical professionals, as reported by NDTV. The police subsequently took custody of his body for postmortem examination, and initial reports from the doctors identified a heart attack as the cause of his untimely demise.

Preliminary findings suggest that Vikas Negi may have been a COVID-19 survivor, having battled the virus in the past. Despite this, he was known for maintaining good health and regularly engaged in cricket matches in Noida and Delhi as a means to stay physically active, the news outlet added.

Relation between COVID-19 and heart attacks:

A research team, led by Dr. Chiara Giannarelli at New York University School of Medicine and funded by the NIH, did a study to figure out how COVID-19 might increase the chances of having a heart attack or stroke. They looked at samples from the heart arteries of eight people who died from COVID-19 between May 2020 and May 2021.

What they found was that the virus (SARS-CoV-2) was present in the heart artery tissue of all the patients. They discovered more of the virus in the walls of the arteries compared to the surrounding fat tissue. The infected cells were mainly a type of white blood cell called macrophages, which help fight off infections. They also remove cholesterol from blood vessels. Too much cholesterol can lead to plaque build-up in arteries, causing atherosclerosis.

The study showed that SARS-CoV-2 could infect human macrophages and foam cells (which are macrophages filled with cholesterol) in a lab dish. This might explain why people with atherosclerosis (plaque build-up) are at a higher risk of severe COVID-19.

The virus was found to infect these cells through a protein on their surface called neuropilin. When they turned off the gene for neuropilin in these cells, the infection decreased. Blocking the virus from attaching to neuropilin also helped reduce the infection.

Infection led to inflammation in the macrophages and foam cells, and these cells released molecules that are known to contribute to heart attacks and strokes. The researchers observed a similar inflammatory response in the artery plaques taken from patients who had surgery to remove them.

So, the study suggests that SARS-CoV-2 might increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes by infecting the walls of arteries and the associated macrophages, causing inflammation in the plaque, which could lead to a stroke or heart attack.