Rheumatic fever is a catastrophic illness in many parts of the world, particularly in developing nations, where the incidence has been estimated to be between 10 and 15 million new cases each year. In the United States, rheumatic fever had become a rarity, having virtually disappeared by the mid 1960s. Of increasing concern, however, was the abrupt rise in the incidence of rheumatic fever in th...

One expression of our changing views with regard to rheumatic fever is the increasing importance being attached to juvenile forms of the disease. Older figures on the age incidence of this disease were based largely upon the incidence of both the primary, and recurrent attacks. Such figures minimized the importance of childhood as the period of greatest susceptibility. For instance in Rolly's m...

thirty four patients with rheumatic fever arc studied on ward ;} of pahlavi hospital with a view to finding out their serum enzyme levels. five cases had obvious rheumatic carditis who showed raised sgot and serum aldolase. the cases with minimal evidence of carditis, clinic.ally or eicctrocani•iographi., cally, had only slight! serum enzyme elevation

Acute rheumatic fever is a major cause of heart disease in large parts of the world, but it remains unknown why only a small fraction of those who are infected with rheumatogenic group A streptococci develop an abnormal immune response that leads to acute rheumatic fever. An understanding of the mechanisms underlying host susceptibility can provide important insights into pathogenesis that in t...

The label of rheumatic fever is now given to a population of patients more distinct and diagnostically "pure" than ever before. The Jones criteria, described in 1944 and modified in 1956 (American Heart Association, 1956), circumscribe the diagnostic boundaries of the disease, and exclude many minor illnesses that formerly were designated inappropriately as rheumatic fever. Other major illnesse...

Acute rheumatic fever is a major cause of heart disease in large parts of the world, but it remains unknown why only a small fraction of those who are infected with rheumatogenic group A streptococci develop an abnormal immune response that leads to acute rheumatic fever. An understanding of the mechanisms underlying host susceptibility can provide important insights into pathogenesis that in t...

Myocarditis consists of an inflammation of the cardiac muscle, definitively diagnosed by endomyocardial biopsy. The causal agents are primarily infectious: in developed countries, viruses appear to be the main cause, whereas in developing countries rheumatic carditis, Chagas disease, and HIV are frequent causes. Furthermore, myocarditis can be indirectly induced by an infectious agent and occur...

The aim of the present study is to determine the reference value of erythrocyte sedimentation rate for differential diagnosis of rheumatic fever in the National Center for Control of Rheumatic Fever and Heart Diseases, Dhaka, Bangladesh among patients with signs and symptoms which may be related to acute rheumatic fever. All medical records for the patients aged 5 to 20 years who attended the o...

During a study of factors influencing the rebound phenomenon in rheumatic fever, a high incidence of infections, especially the dental abscess, was found in children treated with cortisone or corticotrophin (Holt, 1956). These dental lesions showed several unusual features, and so that more could be learnt about them and their relationship to the rebound phenomenon, 34 children treated for rheu...