Canadian Teen Dies After Stomach Flu Leads To Heart Failure

Montreal, Canada (AHN) - A Canadian teenage girl has died three weeks after stomach flu transformed into a rare heart disease known as myocarditis.

According to Montreal-based newspaper The Gazette, Kar?le Galaise-Séguin of Granby, Quebec, had been suffering from a stomach virus. The 16-year-old girl was taken to the hospital after she showed no signs of improvement. When the doctors found she was suffering from a heart ailment, Galaise-Séguin was immediately transferred to Montreal Children's Hospital, the newspaper said.

The teen was put on a heart-lung machine for 18 days while awaiting a heart transplant. She died Friday night from a cerebral hemorrhage. Doctors said she was found to be suffering from myocarditis, an inflammation of the muscular part of the heart.

The rare disease is caused by a viral infection that reaches the heart and inflames the heart muscle. Her parents had urged people to sign their organ donor cards and were hoping a donor heart could be found.