heart failure rheumatic fever

BACKGROUND: Diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is mainly clinical. Delayed or missed diagnosis and failure to administer appropriate and timely treatment of ARF leads to rheumatic heart disease (RHD), which could necessitate expensive treatments such as open-heart surgery. Implementation of preventative guidelines depends on availability of trained healthcare workers. As part of the routine support supervision, the Uganda Heart Institute sent out a team to rural eastern Uganda to evaluate health workers' knowledge level regarding management of ARF...

BACKGROUND: Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) are rare in high-income countries; however, in Aotearoa New Zealand ARF and RHD disproportionately affect Indigenous Māori and Pacific Peoples. This narrative review explores the evidence regarding non-surgical management of patients with clinically significant valve disease or heart failure due to RHD. METHODS: Medline, EMBASE and Scopus databases were searched, and additional publications were identified through cross-referencing...

AIMS : Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a major contributor to cardiac morbidity and mortality globally. This study aims to estimate the probability and predictors of progressing to non-fatal cardiovascular complications and death in young Australians after their first RHD diagnosis. METHODS AND RESULTS : This retrospective cohort study used linked RHD register, hospital, and death data from five Australian states and territories (covering 70% of the whole population and 86% of the Indigenous population)...

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic fever is an autoimmune condition that occurs in response to an untreated Group A Streptococcus throat or skin infection. Recurrent episodes of rheumatic fever can cause permanent damage to heart valves, heart failure and even death. Māori and Pacific people in Aotearoa New Zealand experience some of the highest rates globally, with Pacific children 80 times more likely to be hospitalised for rheumatic fever and Māori children 36 times more likely than non-Māori, non-Pacific children...

AIMS: We reviewed the baseline characteristics and outcomes of patients with infective endocarditis (IE) and compared those with and without rheumatic heart disease (RHD). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients ≥15 years with IE treated at Auckland City Hospital between January 2016 and December 2018 and excluded device-related IE and complex congenital heart disease. RHD status was based on echocardiographic features or previous history of rheumatic fever with valvular disease...

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) causes superficial and invasive infections and immune mediated post-infectious sequalae (including acute rheumatic fever/rheumatic heart disease). Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) are important determinants of global cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. ARF is a multiorgan inflammatory disease that is triggered by GAS infection that activates the innate immune system. In susceptible hosts the response against GAS elicits autoimmune reactions targeting the heart, joints, brain, skin, and subcutaneous tissue...

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a disease of poverty, is almost entirely preventable, and is the most common cardiovascular disease worldwide in those under 25 years especially in the developing county like Bangladesh. RHD is caused by acute rheumatic fever (ARF) which typically results in cumulative valvular lesions that may present clinically after a number of years of sub-clinical disease. It has a progressive course and patients usually may require valve repair/replacement in future. Echocardiography is an easily available, non-invasive, widely used, standard tool for diagnosis and evaluation of RHD...

BACKGROUND: Measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of people with chronic illnesses has become extremely important as the mortality rates associated with such illnesses have decreased and survival rates have increased. Thereby, such measurements not only provide insights into physical, mental and social dimensions of patient's health, but also allow monitoring of the results of interventions, complementing the traditional methods based on morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to describe the HRQOL of patients suffering from Rheumatic Fever (RF) and Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD), and to identify socio-demographic and clinical factors as predictors of HRQOL...

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains the leading cause of cardiac-related deaths and disability in children and young adults worldwide. In The Gambia, the RHD burden is thought to be high although no data are available and no control programme is yet implemented. We conducted a pilot study to generate baseline data on the clinical and valvular characteristics of RHD patients at first presentation, adherence to penicillin prophylaxis and the evolution of lesions over time...

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation or flutter (AFF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia. Limited data can be found on AFF epidemiology in South America. OBJECTIVE: The present study sought to describe the clinical epidemiology of AFF and the use of stroke prevention medication in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) baseline assessment. METHODS: This study analyzed data from 13,260 ELSA-Brasil participants...

BACKGROUND: The long-term outcome data in patients with rheumatic fever/rheumatic heart disease (RF/RHD) is limited. We report the cumulative incidence of adverse outcomes in a cohort of RHD patients from a northern state of India at a median follow-up of 5.4 years. METHODS: 1714 patients with RF/RHD diagnosed using clinical and echocardiographic criteria were registered from 2011 to 2018, and their baseline clinical characteristics and treatment practices were recorded...

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic valve disease (RVD) is the most common cause of cardiovascular death in low-middle income nations. Surgical aortic valve (AV) interventions for RVD, especially in children, have proven problematic with graft failure, relapse, and poor compliance with anticoagulation. A novel technique involving neocuspidization of the aortic annulus using autologous pericardium to construct new AV leaflets (the Ozaki procedure) has shown promising outcomes in children with congenital AV disease; however, there are no previous recorded cases using this technique in children with RVD...

Background: Infective endocarditis caused by the dimorphic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum is extremely rare, occurring predominantly in individuals with prosthetic heart valves and HIV infection. To our knowledge, no case of H. capsulatum native valve endocarditis has been reported in Asia. Methodology . A descriptive study was carried out at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, in 2020. Results: A previously healthy 34-year-old man developed fever, umbilicated skin lesions, oral ulcers, hoarseness of voice, severe weight loss, and progressive dyspnea over the course of one week...

Background: Heart failure occurs in ~10% of patients with acute rheumatic fever (RF), and several studies have shown that cardiac decompensation in RF results primarily from valvular disease and is not due to primary myocarditis. However, the literature on this topic is scarce, and a recent case series has shown that recurrent RF can cause ventricular dysfunction even in the absence of valvular heart disease. Methods: The present study evaluated the clinical, laboratory and imaging characteristics of 25 consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of myocarditis confirmed by 18F-FDG PET/CT or gallium-67 cardiac scintigraphy and RF reactivation according to the revised Jones Criteria...

BACKGROUND: Despite declines in deaths from rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Africa over the past 30 years, it remains a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality on the continent. We present an investment case for interventions to prevent and manage RHD in the African Union (AU). METHODS: We created a cohort state-transition model to estimate key outcomes in the disease process, including cases of pharyngitis from group A streptococcus, episodes of acute rheumatic fever (ARF), cases of RHD, heart failure, and deaths...

INTRODUCTION: Diagnosing infantile Kawasaki disease with atypical symptoms is difficult, and it also has higher risk of coronary abnormalities which is one of the most common complications of KD. Other complications such as pericardial effusion, mitral insufficiency, congestive heart failure, myocardial systolic dysfunction, and systemic vasculitis were also reported. Peripheral gangrene and necrosis are among the rare complications of this systemic vasculitis. Case Presentation . We report an 8-month-old girl with prolonged fever, generalized petechial rash, cracked erythematous lips, edema, and coronary ectasia who received two doses of IVIG in another center, but short after her discharge, she started to develop a necrotic plaque on her knee...

INTRODUCTION: Rheumatic heart disease is among the leading causes of acquired valvular heart disease in the developing world. However, there is no data available for rheumatic heart disease in the paediatric population of Sabah. This study collected data for acute rheumatic fever admissions among the paediatric population in Sabah over a period of 3 years. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study. All records for admissions to paediatric wards in Sabah for acute rheumatic fever from January 2016 to December 2018 were collected...

The new disease concept of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which is a systemic inflammatory syndrome with multiple organ involvement after SARS-CoV2 infection, was established in 2020. MIS-C is common in Hispanic and black children in Europe and North America, with few reports in East Asians. A significant portion of patients with MIS-C develop Kawasaki disease (KD)-like symptoms. Therefore, differential diagnosis is challenging, especially in East Asia, where KD is most prevalent. No Japanese cases have been reported in the literatures so far...

AIM: To describe the clinical features, treatment and outcomes of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in children admitted to the national referral hospital in Dili, Timor-Leste. METHODS: This prospective study documented cases of ARF and RHD in children aged 14 years and under who were admitted between June 2017 and May 2019. ARF was diagnosed using an adapted version of the 2015 Jones criteria and presumed (rather than proven) exposure to group A Streptococcus...

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic valvular heart disease (RVHD) is one of the foremost causes of heart failure (HF) in our population, particularly among young adults, but a decline in the prevalence of RVHD has been observed. The effect of this decline on the relevance of RVHD among other causes of HF is not established in our setting. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether RVHD is still a leading cause of HF in our population or not. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of HF patients hospitalized between August 2018 and June 2020...