Since the turn of the century, acute rheumatic fever has become increasingly uncommon (Glover, 1930; Hitchens, 1956). Penicillin treatment of upper respiratory tract infections and the increasing use of antibiotic prophylaxis have contributed to this decline in recent years, but improved social and economic conditions and the changing pattern of streptococcal illness are probably more important...

Since the turn of the century, acute rheumatic fever has become increasingly uncommon (Glover, 1930; Hitchens, 1956). Penicillin treatment of upper respiratory tract infections and the increasing use of antibiotic prophylaxis have contributed to this decline in recent years, but improved social and economic conditions and the changing pattern of streptococcal illness are probably more important...

BACKGROUND The incidence of rheumatic heart disease is great in Brazil. We analyzed the distribution of human leukocyte (HLA) antigens in a Brazilian population sample with rheumatic fever or rheumatic heart disease, with the aim of better understanding the mechanisms involved. METHODS AND RESULTS HLA class I (A, B, and C) and class II (DR and DQ) antigen distribution was studied in 40 patien...

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...

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...

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...