BACKGROUND Acute rheumatic fever and its sequels, rheumatic heart diseases, remain major unsolved preventable health problems in Kosovo population, particularly among the disadvantages indigenous Albanian and Egyptians people. In Kosovo, despite of performing secondary prophylaxis with benzathine penicillin, acute rheumatic fever hospitalization rates have remained essentially unchanged for the...

To find out the prevalence of rheumatic fever/rheumatic heart disease in an urban area, a survey of school children aged between 5 to 16 years studying in randomly selected government schools in Kathmandu city was done. Out of 4984 students enrolled in the study 4736 were examined, the percentage of absentees being five. Revised Jones Criteria (1992) was used for the diagnosis of rheumatic feve...

It is now well established that practically all initial attacks and subsequent recurrences of rheumatic fever are precipitated by antecedent Group A hemolytic streptococcal infection. Evidence to support this concept has been based on the close epidemiologic and bacteriologic association of acute rheumatic fever and streptococcal infection (1-9) as well as on the striking similarity of the anti...

The frequency of antigen types (A, B, C, and DR) in an unselected group of 25 patients with chronic rheumatic heart disease and an unselected group of 15 patients with acute rheumatic fever was compared with that in a group of 100 healthy volunteers. All patients and controls were Arabs of Saudi origin. Only the frequency of HLA-DR4 was significantly different in the controls and the patient gr...

OBJECTIVE To measure antibody titres to cardiac, nuclear, and streptococcal antigens in different groups of rheumatic fever (n = 60) and control subjects (n = 80) with the aim of identifying cross reactive antigens of potential laboratory diagnostic value. METHODS Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), immunocytochemical, and electrophoretic techniques were used to measure titres of anti...

Despite dramatic gains of the last century, acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease remain major preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in many parts of the world.

Acute rheumatic fever is an inflammatory response to group A streptococcal infectionwhich typically occurs two to three weeks after a throat infection.Worldwide, approximately 500 000 new cases of acute rheumatic fever occur annually, and at least 15 million people have chronic rheumatic heart disease. 2 Acute rheumatic fever is characterised by a clinical syndrome, and the most common manifest...

INTRODUCTION Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is still a common cause of morbidity and mortality in India. Rheumatic fever commonly occurs between 5-15 yrs of age. Rheumatic activity is a common cause of deterioration of symptoms in a stable or undiagnosed case of RHD. MATERIAL AND METHODS 41 consecutive patients of acute rheumatic activity were studied. Presenting symptoms were noted. Physical ...

In the guinea pig, chronic scurvy with superimposed infection (beta streptococcus) and to a lesser extent chronic scurvy alone, produces an arthropathy with striking pathologic similarities to that of rheumatic fever and the closely allied condition of rheumatoid arthritis. Considerable significance is attached to the widespread occurrence in the experimental animal subjected to scurvy and infe...