Speculation Covid may have damaged Warne’s heart

Questions are being asked about Shane Warne’s death with research linking Covid to heart issues months after infection has passed.

Shane Warne suffered two bouts of Covid, raising speculation that the virus may have damaged his heart.

Warne suffered a well-publicised Covid infection in London in August, when he used a ventilator to speed up his recovery.

And the Herald Sun can reveal he contracted Covid again a few months later, though he described that milder case as “a sniffle”.

“It was only like a little flu the second time,” he told the paper just weeks before his death.

“The second time was just a bit of a sniffle and the first time I was quite bad. Now I’m double vaxxed, had it twice, and think I’ll be ok for a while.”

Recent international research has linked Covid to heart issues months after the infection has passed.

Shane Warne contracted Covid in London, England. Picture: Getty Images

A Washington University study reported in Nature Medicine found that those who had had Covid had a 72 per cent increased rate of heart failure and 63 increased risk of heart attack one year after Covid.

“However, the way Covid-19 infection might cause cardiovascular problems remains unclear,” the authors said.

Professor Tom Marwick, the director of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute at the Alfred, is leading a study into the cardiovascular effects of Covid.

“We do know there are links, but they are not links in terms of sudden death,” he said.

“The aspect of this that I think is most important to the community is that if you have symptoms of coronary disease – chest pains etc – these need to be dealt with urgently.”

Warne, a long time smoker, used liquid-only diets to shed unwanted kilos.

Some medical figures have decried the diet practice, arguing that it can upset the blood’s electrolyte balance and endanger heart health.

Warne has said that he used diets of traditional Chinese medicine, as well as slimming supplements at other times, to shed up to 14kg in his pursuit of an 80kg weight.

Dr Peter Brukner, the former team doctor of the Australian men’s cricket team, told Triple M Perth on Thursday: “Warnie, if he had heart disease, which sounds like he did, you know, that didn’t happen overnight in Thailand. It’s been happening for 20, 30 years from smoking, poor diet, etc, etc.”

Speaking after Warne’s death, an Indian cardiothoracic surgeon identified risk factors for cardiac arrest, such as smoking, hypertension and obesity.

“Now there’s a new one – Covid”, KM Mandana told the Times of India.