Autoimmune Heart disease caused by autoimmune cross-targeting

Autoimmune cross-targeting hypothesis: a virus marks the inside of a cell while a larger infection marks the outside and the combination triggers autoimmune disease.  The immune system is instructed to destroy both the inside and the outside of the target.

The Chagas parasite called t.cruzi can infect the heart muscle.  If a virus infects the heart muscle at the same time an autoimmune reaction can be triggered.

Chagas and autoimmune heart disease
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8650474
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC88915/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16323421
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8878420

Viruses that infect the heart
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/119/19/2615.full

When failed hearts are examined chagas and adenoviruses are common
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25442238

new viruses of the heart...chikungunya?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0002870373904596
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25626645

We can see a different example of autoimmune heart disease with strep infections. If strep triggers the immune system to target the heart at the same time as a virus infects the myocytes then autoimmune disease can result.

Rheumatic Fever autoimmune heart disease: cross-targeting of strep with coxsackie
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25191648
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18608177