Presentation, Patterns of Myocardial Damage, and Clinical Course of Viral Myocarditis

Endomyocardial biopsies will be stained with Masson's trichrome as well as Giemsa and examined by light microscopy. For immunohistology, tissue sections will be treated with an avidin-biotinimmunoperoxidase method (Vectastain-Elite ABC Kit, Vector, Burlingame, Calif), with application of the following monoclonal antibodies: CD3 (T cells; Novocastra Laboratories, Newcastle, UK), CD68 (macrophages, natural killer cells; DAKO, Hamburg, Germany), and HLA-DR-α (DAKO, Hamburg, Germany