Although entirely preventable, rheumatic heart disease (RHD), a disease of poverty and social disadvantage resulting in high morbidity and mortality, remains an ever-present burden in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) and rural, remote, marginalised and disenfranchised populations within hig...
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is the result of episodes of acute rheumatic fever with valvular (and other cardiac) damage caused by an abnormal immune response to group A streptococcal infections, usually during childhood and adolescence. As a result of improved living conditions and the introduction of ...
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) results from untreated and often
repetitive episodes of Rheumatic Fever (RF), which in turn is caused
by uncontrolled group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal (GAS) infection in a susceptible host. In endemic areas for RHD the disease
starts during childhood or adolescence, thus...
Aims: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) accounts for over a million premature deaths annually; however, there is little contemporary information on presentation, complications, and treatment.
Methods and results: This prospective registry enrolled 3343 patients (median age 28 years, 66.2% female) presenting ...
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) constitutes a leading cause
of premature death and incapacity in Africa, where it is
encountered in younger people, and shows a much faster
and more malignant course than that seen in Europe or
North America. While it is well established that RHD is a
consequence of recurren...
Aims: Portable echocardiography has emerged as a potential tool to detect rheumatic heart disease (RHD) early. Complex echocardiographic criteria used in recent epidemiological studies may be difficult to translate into daily practice in areas where the burden of RHD is greatest and skilled practitioners...
Background: Epidemiologic studies of the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease have used clinical screening with echocardiographic confirmation of suspected cases. We hypothesized that echocardiographic screening of all surveyed children would show a significantly higher prevalence of rheumatic heart dis...
