The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-01-20

Rheumatic fever Is 8 widespread
ana prevalent disease and its Inn
portauce In severe disabling illness
cannot be overenaphasi2ed. Rheu.
matte fever flOtrishes In the cold,
damp. changing climate Of New
England and similar areas. It
finds is victims largely among sur.
roundings associated with the poor;
namely, crowded living quarters,
damp localities and damp housing.
Crowded rooms allow more easily
the spread Of many infections from
one family member to the next
there 10 little opportunity for sep
arating q sick child from the other
children. In such housing condis
tioas the sick child Is exposed to
diseases which the other children or
adults Ia the family may have.
Rheumatic fever, however, does
not limit itself to the poor. Chill
dren in all economic strata are slis-
ceptible TO and may come down with
the disease. Nor does IL limit its
self to New England for Il occurs
In ell parts Of the world.
A0ypW1W vbUUkhnD
Rheumatic fever has more than
10000 new victims yearly in the
United states. It's Significance lies
in tl1a fact that rheumatic fever
leads 70 rheumatic heart disease.
Examination Of school children re-
veals that two out Of every hundred
have rheumatic heart disease. The
remarkable part Of this astounding
figure q that In over oaae-fourth Of
the children found to have rheurna-
tic heart disease, the parents had no
inkling that their children ever had
rheumatic fever and certainly not
heart disease.
How can you recognize that the
child has the infection? The disease
as related In some way TO heinolytic
streptococcus infections. A week or
two, after the streptoc0ccal throat
Infection, there are slight TO marked
symptoms Of rheumatic fever. The
child y Nstless, tired and refuses to
carry On as usual: he may have
fever, his joints and muscles may
ache and perhaps the Joints may be
swollen o bit. The disease Is par
ticularly tricky and Sneaky. It may
come on so slowly and gradually
with barely noticeable changes In
the cl1tlds actions and appearance
that sometimes the child has full
blown heart disease before O physi.
cien Is consulted.
II 10 the mother who Is In the best
position TO note changes from usual
In her child. She should pay atten.
ton 10 him particularly after q cold
or sore throat has apparently sub.
sided. She should note loss Of ap.
petite, pAleness, his desire to rest
instead Of play, pain in muscles or
Joints, nose bleeds and skin rashes.
These symptoms and signs should
be explained by the doctor, not by
other parents Of neighborS. It Is by
noting the signs OF rheumatic fever
at the earliest possible moment
that the mother can do her part In
the control Of this disease.
Difficult To Diagnose
Rheumatic fever may so simulate
other diseases, and its signs may be
80 few that all the physician's skin
and experience are needed to detect
and diagnose the disease. He may
use q his aids laboratory procedures
such as the blood count, the blood
sedimentation rate: he may have an
electrocardiogram taken and per-
haps x.rayS. He Is especially In
terested In finding out whether the
disease has become inactive or
whether 1t Is still active. This he
determines by his clinical observa-
tions and laboratory studies. The
words active and inactive" are
used with, their medical meaning In