BACKGROUND Erythromycin is recommended for secondary prophylaxis in children with rheumatic heart disease, who are allergic to penicillin. CASE CHARACTERISTICS A 9-year-old girl, with rheumatic heart disease, on secondary prophylaxis with erythromycin 250 mg BD, presented with acute rheumatic fever. OUTCOME Responded to steroids and started on a higher dose (250 mg TDS) of erythromycin for ...

The diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever is a clinical challenge and depends on the possibility of the disease being borne in mind. Although the complete eradication of rheumatic fever from the Western world has not been achieved, the disease is often forgotten in the differential diagnosis of a patient with fever and polyarthralgia or arthritis. Rheumatic fever remains an important acquired card...

BACKGROUND Rheumatic heart disease is the commonest cardiac disease in most sub-Saharan African countries, followed by hypertensive heart disease which is rising along with the other non-communicable diseases. However the pattern in our setting is not known. This study aimed to determine the pattern of cardiac diseases among adult patients on follow-up at the cardiac follow-up clinic of Jimma U...

rheumatic heart disease is a serious health problem in developing countries. the present study was conducted to evaluate clinical and echocardiographic findings of mitral stenosis and their relationship with patients functional classes. we studied records of 400 patients with symptomatic mitral stenosis (71% female, mostly in 20s or 30s and 54% function class ii) treated in two hospitals in teh...

BACKGROUND Echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease in asymptomatic children may result in early diagnosis and prevent progression. Physician-led screening is not feasible in Malawi. Task shifting to mid-level providers such as clinical officers may enable more widespread screening. Hypothesis With short-course training, clinical officers can accurately screen for rheumatic heart...