Let me put this in perspective from my own personal experiences. My mother had a brother who died in 1926 at four years of age of an infection after a ruptured appendix. Because of advances in antibiotics, surgery and anesthesia, this no longer occurs in advanced countries. It is comforting to know that if one of my children gets appendicitis, there are excellent doctors, hospitals and medications readily available to successfully treat them. My wife's mother had a twin sister who died from a strep throat in 1932 at 12 years of age.
Rheumatic fever starts with a simple strep throat and is cured by penicillin.
Children no longer die from strep throat or suffer the sequelae, which can be devastating. In this decade, my children have had several strep throat infections and we have had only the inconvenience of having to give them antibiotics for a week. Lastly, I would like to mention one of my professors of pediatrics. He trained in the 1940's. He was a wonderful man, loved by children and parents and highly respected by students and colleagues.