A Three-Year Prospective Study of Streptococcal Infections in a Population of Rural Egyptian School Children

Rheumatic Heart Disease in Schoolchildren from Al-Medina Al-Mounawarrah District, Saudi Arabia

“…We found that 81% of the children belonged to the low or middle socioeconomic classes. A higher prevalence of the disease was found in children aged 10 to 11 years, and this agrees with findings from other studies [7,8,15].…”

“…The prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in schoolchildren ranges from 0.1 per 1,000 in children from developed countries to 20 per 1,000 in developing countries [7][8][9][15][16][17]. Our study showed a prevalence of rheumatic heart disease of 2.2 per 1,000 in urban schoolchildren and 3.3 per 1,000 in rural schoolchildren, with an average 2.4 per 1,000 for the group as a whole (6 to 15 years old).…”

“…Decline in its prevalence is due to the identification and eradication of the causative organism, improved socioeconomic conditions, and elimination of overcrowding [3][4][5][6]. In Arab and Asian countries, rheumatic heart disease progresses rapidly, often requiring surgical intervention before patients are 20 years [7][8][9][10]. Few studies of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease have been conducted in Saudi Arabia, although the importance of rheumatic heart disease has been noted [11][12][13].…”

Newly recognized distinctive M protein associated with certain M type 1 group A streptococci

“…From October 1972, to September 1973, 116 group A M-type 1 strains were recovered from the throats of school children in the Qalyub area near Cairo, Egypt. The description of' the study area was reported in a previous publication (1). Sixty-eight of these strains were classified T type TI, and 38 were classif'ied as T8/25/Imp.…”

Primary prevention of rheumatic fever in children: Key factors to consider

“…This figure, derived from an RF registry in the Vanguard community, is extremely low compared with published data, which suggest that sore throat occurs in at least 33% of children/year. [7][8][9] The study used a figure of 15% for the prevalence of group A streptococci in the pharynx; this means that only 1 -2 of every 1 000 children/ year experience a group A streptococcal sore throat (1.3/1 000 child years). Data from other RF-endemic countries suggest a far higher incidence of group A streptococcal sore throat by a factor of over 100 times: 147/1 000 child years in Fiji and up to 950/1 000 child years in India.…”