Heart, Lung and Circulation
Volume 15, Issue 2 , Pages 113-118 , April 2006

The Challenge of Acute Rheumatic Fever Diagnosis in a High-Incidence Population: A Prospective Study and Proposed Guidelines for Diagnosis in Australia's Northern Territory

  • Anna Ralph, MBBS

      Affiliations

    • Royal Darwin Hospital, NT, Australia
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: Department of Immunology, Allergy and Infectious Diseases, St George Hospital, 2 South St., Kogarah, NSW 2217, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 9350 2955, fax: +61 2 9350 3981.
    • ,
  • Susan Jacups, BN

      Affiliations

    • Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, NT, Australia
    • ,
  • Kay McGough

      Affiliations

    • Rheumatic Heart Disease Program, Centre for Disease Control, Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services, Darwin, NT, Australia
    • ,
  • Malcolm McDonald, MBBS

      Affiliations

    • Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, NT, Australia
    • ,
  • Bart J. Currie, MBBS, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University and Northern Territory Clinical School, Flinders University, NT, Australia

References 

  1. Ferrieri P for the Jones Criteria Working Group. Proceedings of the Jones Criteria Workshop. Circulation. 2002;106(19):2521–2523
  2. Carapetis JR, Currie BJ. Rheumatic fever in a high incidence population: the importance of monoathritis and low grade fever. Arch Dis Child. 2001;85:223–227
  3. Saxena A. Diagnosis of rheumatic fever: current status of Jones Criteria and role of echocardiography. Indian J Pediatr. 2000;67:283–286
  4. Figueroa FE, Fernandez MS, Valdes P, Wilson C, Lanas F, Carrion F, et al. Prospective comparison of clinical and echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic carditis: long term follow up of patients with subclinical disease. Heart. 2001;85:407–410
  5. Veasy LG. Time to take soundings in acute rheumatic fever. Lancet. 2001;357:1994–1995
  6. Narula J, Kaplan EL. Echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic fever. Lancet. 2001;358:2000
  7. Koren W, Koldanov R, Morozova E, Zolkina I, Enina L, Shostak N. Red cell Na+/H+ exchange and B cell alloantigen 883 (D8/17) in patients with acute rheumatic fever and inactive rheumatic heart disease. Scand J Rheumatol. 1996;25:87–91
  8. Harel L, Zeharia A, Kodman Y, Straussberg R, Zabriskie JB, Amir J. Presence of the d8/17 B-cell marker in children with rheumatic fever in Israel. Clin Genetics. 2002;61:293–298
  9. Special Writing group of the Committee on Rheumatic fever, endocarditis and Kawasaki Disease of the Council on Cardiovascular disease in the young of the American Heart Association. Guidelines for the diagnosis of rheumatic fever. J Am Med Assoc. 1992;268:2069–2073
  10. MacDonald K, Walker A. Rheumatic heart disease in Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory. Med J Aust. 1989;150:503–505
  11. Carapetis JR, Currie BJ. Mortality due to acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in the Northern Territory: a preventable cause of death in aboriginal people. Aust NZ J Public Health. 1999;23:159–163
  12. Kelly A. Top End Rheumatic Heart Disease Program: A report to the Commonwealth, February–November. NT Dis Control Bull. 2003;10:9–11
  13. Couzos S, Carapetis J. Rheumatic fever. In:  Couzos S,  Murray R editor. Aboriginal primary health care. Melbourne: Oxford University Press; 2003;p. 281–310
  14. Carapetis J, Wolff D, Currie B. Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in the Top End of Australia's Northern Territory. Med J Aust. 1996;164:146–149
  15. Carapetis J, Kilburn C, MacDonald K, Walker A, Currie B. Ten-year follow-up of a cohort with rheumatic heart disease. Aust NZ J Med. 1997;27:691–697
  16. Carapetis JR, Currie BJ, Kaplan EL. The epidemiology and prevention of group A streptococcal infections: acute respiratory tract infections, skin infections and their sequelae at the close of the twentieth century. Clin Infect dis. 1999;28:205–210
  17. Anstey NM, Bastian I, Dunckley H, Currie BJ. Systemic lupus erythematosis in Australian Aboriginies: high prevalence, morbidity and mortality. Aust NZ J Med. 1993;23:646–651
  18. Morgan D, Fisher D, Currie BJ. An 18 year clinical review of septic arthritis from tropical Australia. Epidemiol Infect. 1996;117(3):423–428
  19. Vasan R, Shrivastava S, Vijayakumar M, narang R, Lister B, Narula J. Echocardiographic evaluation of patients with acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic carditis. Circulation. 1996;94:73–82
  20. Abernethy M, Bass N, Sharpe N. Doppler echocardiography and the early diagnosis of carditis in acute rheumatic fever. Aust NZ J Med. 1994;24:530–535
  21. Kotb M. Infection and autoimmunity: a story of the host, the pathogen and the co-pathogen. Clin Immunol Immunopath. 1995;74:10–22
  22. Currie BJ, Brewster DR. Rheumatic fever in Aboriginal children. J Paediatr Child Health. 2002;38:223–225
  23. Narula J, Changrasekhar Y, Rahimtoola S. Diagnosis of acute rheumatic carditis: the echoes of change. Circulation. 1999;100(4):1576–1581
  24. Noonan S, Edmond K, Krause V, Currie B. The Top End rheumatic heart disease control program I. Report on progress. NT Dis Control Bull. 2001;8:15–18

PII: S1443-9506(05)00185-X

doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2005.08.006

Heart, Lung and Circulation
Volume 15, Issue 2 , Pages 113-118 , April 2006

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