Overview
- Authors:
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Angelo Taranta
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Cabrini Medical Center, New York Medical College, New York, USA
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Milton Markowitz
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Department of Pediatrics, The University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, USA
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Table of contents (13 chapters)
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 9-10
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 11-17
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 18-28
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 29-40
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 41-44
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 45-50
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 51-59
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 60-65
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 66-70
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 71-74
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 75-82
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 83-88
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- Angelo Taranta, Milton Markowitz
Pages 89-91
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About this book
It has become commonplace to say that the decline of rheu matic fever in Europe and North America has little, if any thing, to do with medicine; but to conclude that efforts to control the disease are futile would be an error leading to what could be termed public health malpractice. The need for adequate treatment of patients suffering from acute rheu matic fever or chronic rheumatic valvular heart disease is obvious; but control also means prevention, and here, too, the need is obvious, if only to lighten the burden on health care, due especially to the treatment of patients with advanced forms of the disease. The feasibility of and justification for rheumatic fever control programmes in developing countries has been often questioned. A co-operative study co-ordinated by the World Health Organization has now demonstrated that systematic prevention of rheumatic fever recurrences not only benefits the patients concerned but also has economic advantages. Primary prevention by systematic penicillin treatment of all streptococcal throat infections is at present beyond the reach of many health care systems, and anti-streptococcal vac cination is still in the research phase. The mainstay of the combat against rheumatic heart disease thus remains 7 RHEUMATIC FEVER secondary prevention - the long-term monthly administ ration of penicillin injections to identified patients. This requires, among other things, that penicillin be available.
Authors and Affiliations
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Cabrini Medical Center, New York Medical College, New York, USA
Angelo Taranta
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Department of Pediatrics, The University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, USA
Milton Markowitz
