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Several serious as well as terminal diseases of the heart are caused by viruses. There is also speculation that viruses may contribute to the most common cause of death in the western world, ischaemic heart disease. Until recently, however, the pathogenesis of viral infections was not fullyunderstood, resulting in a tendency amongst clinicians to ignore these causes in the explanation of symptoms related to heart disease, such as chest pain and cardiac arrhythmias. This book presents the clinician with an authoritative account of the role of viruses in heart disease, clearlyexplaining the disease mechanisms and outlining methods of diagnosis and therapy. The first work to relate current research to the clinical aspects of viral infection of the heart, this publication will be welcomed by both cardiologists and virologists alike.