BACKGROUND Latent rheumatic heart disease (RHD) occurs in asymptomatic individuals with echocardiographic evidence of RHD and no history of acute rheumatic fever. The natural history of latent RHD is unclear but has important clinical and economic implications about whether these children should receive penicillin prophylaxis or not. We performed a 5-year prospective study of this question. M...

Following reports in the 1960s that language may be affected by right hemisphere (RH) lesions, many limitations to effective communication in the right hemisphere damaged (RHD) population have been described and evidenced. However, stereotypical portrayals and descriptions of carefully selected cases may be misleading as to the extent of communication deficits. In many of the parameters in whic...

BACKGROUND Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) prevalence and mortality rates remain especially high in many parts of Africa. While effective prevention and treatment exist, coverage rates of the various interventions are low. Little is known about the comparative cost-effectiveness of different RHD interventions in limited resource settings. We developed an economic evaluation tool to assist ministr...

INTRODUCTION Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in developing countries. The reported prevalence rates of RHD are highly variable and mainly attributable to differences in the sensitivity of either clinical screening to detect advanced heart disease or echocardiographic evaluation where disease is diagnosed earlier across a continuous spectrum. ...

This paper presents a review of the main results of an application of discourse analysis in aphasics with the left hemisphere damages and in the right hemisphere damaged (RHD) patients. Research findings indicate that aphasics have marked deficits on the level of microstructure, especially cohesion of discourse, whereas the coherence and superstructure of their texts are relatively well preserv...

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD), secondary to group A streptococcal infection is endemic in the developing as well as parts of the developed world with significant costs to the patient, and to the healthcare system. We briefly review the prevalence and cost of RHD in developed and developing nations. We subsequently develop a Markov model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of three strategies (vs...

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has long receded as a significant threat to public health in high-income countries. In low-resource settings, however, the specter of RHD remains unabated, as exemplified by recent data from the Global Burden of Diseases Study. There are many complex reasons for this ongoing global disparity, including inadequate data on disease burden, challenges in effective advo...

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the most serious manifestations of rheumatic fever, which is caused by group A Streptococcus (GAS or Streptococcus pyogenes) infection. RHD is an auto immune sequelae of GAS pharyngitis, rather than the direct bacterial infection of the heart, which leads to chronic heart valve damage. Although antibiotics like penicillin are effective against GAS infection, imp...

Africa has one of the highest prevalence of heart diseases in children and young adults, including congenital heart disease (CHD) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). We present here an extensive review of recent data from the African continent highlighting key studies and information regarding progress in CHD and RHD since 2005. Main findings include evidence that the CHD burden is underestimate...