Rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) are major public health problems in developing countries. A prospective study carried out in a large general hospital showed that carditis was the predominant feature in first attack and also the recurrence of RF but that recurrence was associated with more severe manifestations. Echocardiography picked up cases of subclinical carditis. Pre...

Familial Mediterranean fever, an autosomal recessive disorder, is a member of the periodic fever syndromes, and considered to be the most common cause of recurrent febrile episodes in children. It is important to understand the disorder as familial Mediterranean fever falls on a spectrum of various presentations; the recurrent episodes of familial Mediterranean fever may be so severe that the q...

A total of70 children aged 6 to 15 years with rheumatic fever and completed in-hospital data were reviewed from 19XX to 1993. In 5X.6% of patients this was the first attack of disease, while in 41.4'10 the episode represented a recurrence. Noncompliance of antimicrobial prophylaxis was noted in all of the subjects with recurrences. 61.4% of cases gave a previous history of sore throat, and ...

In spite of continued research the pathogenesis of rheumatic fever remains a problem of much complexity. In the pursuit of its aetiology during the past 60 years, intensive bacteriological studies have been carried out, metabolic disturbances have been considered, allergic mechanisms have been incriminated, the role of heredity, dietary deficiency and a host of other factors have been investiga...

Five patients with acute rheumatic fever were treated with gentisate, the biologic oxidation product of salicylate. The clinical course of this group was contrasted with that of five patients who received salicylate. It was found that, in the doses employed, gentisate had an effect on the symptoms of acute rheumatic fever equal to that of salicylate, but that it produced none of the toxic react...

Objective Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is the most common hereditary monogenic auto-inflammatory disease. It is characterized by recurrent, self-limited episodes of fever and sterile inflammation of serous membranes. Pregnancy therefore acts as a medical stress test for the mother. This is particularly evident in women who conceive with chronic medical disorders. The limited reserves of a...

All subjects had recent infections with group A â haemolytic streptococci. The findings attributable to this particular inclusion criterion may widen our understanding of why most children with such infection escape a rheumatic attack while only a few do not. Our analyses adjusted for socioeconomic factors imply that low serum albumin concentrations and body iron stores may contribute to rheuma...

disease in pregnancy: a 4-year audit at Pretoria Academic Hospital. S Afr Med J 2008;98:553–556. 26. Sani M, Karaye K, Borodo MM. Prevalence and pattern of rheumatic heart disease in the Nigerian savannah: an echocardiographic study. Cardiovasc J Afr2007;18:295–299. 27. von Elm E, Altman DG, Eggers M, Pocock S J, Gotzsche PC, Vandenbroucke JP, for the STROBE Initiative. The Strengthening the Re...

IN THE COURSE of acute rheumatic fever the occurrence of pulmonary infiltrates is often considered a manifestation of pulmonary congestion, unrelated viral or bacterial pneumonitis, atelectasis, or infarction. These interpretations are undoubtedly correct frequently but cannot apply to all cases. Inasmuch as the pathologic process in acute rheumatic fever is known to be a diffuse one and capabl...