THE INCIDENCE OF RHEUMATIC FEVER, CHOREA AND RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE
- 9 August 1924
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in JAMA
- Vol. 83 (6) , 425-426
- https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1924.02660060029010
Abstract
The prevention of rheumatic heart disease is one of the great problems of today. In the last analysis, this problem narrows itself down to the control and prevention of rheumatic fever and chorea, which are the causes of 95 per cent, of the cases of heart disease in young people. In this task, we are greatly handicapped by our lack of knowledge in regard to the etiology and epidemiology of these diseases. Of the etiology we know very little except that rheumatic fever, chorea and "rheumatic" heart disease appear to be different manifestations of a single more or less specific infective agent. Henceforth in this article, the term "rheumatic infection" will be used to include these three types only. Epidemiologie studies have tended to support the popular opinion that cold, damp weather is an important factor in predisposing to a high incidence of the rheumatic infections. An analysis1of the admissionsKeywords
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