• Question: what is inside a heart and what bacteria can end up on your heart?

    Asked by whew490ugh on 20 Jul 2023.
    • Photo: Kip Heath

      Kip Heath answered on 20 Jul 2023:

      Lots of bacteria can end up on your heart and cause an infection. It depends how they get into your body. One common route is dental surgery – bacteria like staph (staphylococcus) can break off your teeth and get into your blood stream and lodge in your heart. It can be very difficult to treat.

    • Photo: Bruno Silvester Lopes

      Bruno Silvester Lopes answered on 20 Jul 2023:

      The heart is made up of four chambers or 4 rooms. There are walls that divide the heart into two parts. Heart is usually well protected against infection but, it may be easier for bacteria to sneak and fight through our immune system in people that have: artificial/damaged heart valve because of infection or disease, birth heart defect, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (enlargement of heart muscle cells and thick heart chambers).
      Some common bacteria that can end up are periodontal pathogens (from your mouth) Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sanguinis, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (this is one of the hardest name ever!) and Porphyromonas gingivalis which can cause hear disease and stroke. Others that can enter our blood stream can also enter the heart!

    • Photo: Clare Morrow

      Clare Morrow answered on 24 Jul 2023:

      I think Bruno and Kip have given a good answer – what they forgot to say though is that there is a lot of blood (cells and plasma) in the heart, being pumped to keep us alive.

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