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Rare heart virus causes exchange student's death

ROCK HILL, SC (WBTV) - Officials say a rare heart condition caused the death of an apparently healthy German exchange student who was living with a family in Rock Hill earlier this fall.

Hannah Hinrichsen's host family said she complained of a headache and feeling nauseous around the last week of October. 

She stayed home from school on Wednesday, Oct. 28.  When Hinrichsen's host mother checked on her later that day, she discovered the girl was dead.

According to an autopsy report released this week, the 16-year-old suffered from viral myocarditis, a virus that attacks the heart and causes the muscle surrounding the heart to break down. The virus affects one in 10,000 people and is extremely difficult to detect.

York County Coroner Sabrina Gast said it is unknown how long Hinrichsen had the virus or even how she got it. 

The Myocarditis Foundation website states: "Myocarditis usually attacks otherwise healthy people. It is believed that 5 to 20% of all cases of sudden death in young adults are due to myocarditis."

Hinrichsen was in the eleventh grade at South Pointe High School.  She arrived at the Rock Hill school about three months ago.

Following her death, school officials said Hinrichsen made quite an impression in the short time she was at the school.

"She really immersed herself into student life, the chorus," said Dr. Al Leonard, principal of South Pointe High School.  "She had friends [and] they were in drama."

She was actually planning on being part of the drama department next year and also took a lot of art classes here," Leonard said.  "For a brief time, she made a tremendous impact and had a lot of friends."