Awareness, Education, and Advocacy
Introduction Health-seeking behavior is a critical determinant of success for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) control programs. If people at risk of RHD do not seek care for group A streptococcal…
Group A StreptococcusVaccines
Introduction Although a reinvigorated global vaccine development effort gives legitimate reason for cautious optimism, it is a sad reality that in 2019 the best introduction to a discussion on vaccines…
Echocardiographic Screening for Rheumatic Heart Disease
Introduction Over the past decade, echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has emerged as a potentially transformative strategy for global RHD control. School-aged children from nearly every continent have…
Rheumatic Heart Disease Control Programs, Registers, and Access to Care
Rheumatic Heart Disease Control Programs Disease control is the “reduction in the incidence, prevalence, morbidity, or mortality of an infectious disease to a locally acceptable level.” Efforts to control acute…
Primary Prevention of Acute Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease
Primordial Prevention Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) are predominantly diseases of social, environmental, and economic poverty. Primordial prevention, defined as improving socioeconomic and living conditions, and…
Rheumatic Heart Disease in Pregnancy
Introduction Heart disease is the highest indirect (nonobstetric) cause of mortality for pregnant women in both high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Valvular heart disease is an…
Surgical Management of Rheumatic Valvular Heart Disease
Introduction New cases of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) have almost disappeared from most high-income countries (HICs), where rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is now a remnant of the past and usually…
Catheter-Based Evaluation and Treatment of Rheumatic Heart Disease
Introduction Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains the most common cause of multivalvular heart disease worldwide, and a major cause of cardiac morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries. The…
Clinical Evaluation and Diagnosis of Rheumatic Heart Disease
Introduction Until recently, the diagnosis and evaluation of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) was purely clinical in resource-poor settings where RHD has remained endemic. The advent of portable echocardiographic technology, however,…
Medical Management of Rheumatic Heart Disease
Introduction Chronic ambulatory heart failure (HF) is usually the most common clinical manifestation of advanced rheumatic heart disease (RHD) . HF in RHD patients typically develops after a chronic, often…
