Rheumatic fever: the interplay between host, genetics, and microbe. Lewis A. Conner memorial lecture.
نویسنده
چکیده
ALTHOUGH the incidence of rheumatic fever has markedly decreased in this country as well as in most of the industrialized world, one need only visit any of the "developing" or third world countries to realize that this disease is still one of the major public health problems in the world. It is estimated that approximately 15 to 20 million new cases will appear each year in these countries. I personally believe that the incidence is actually higher, since many of the cases are not diagnosed at the time and only appear later as chronic rheumatic heart disease. Perhaps most important from a public health point of view is the fact that most patients do survive the acute carditis and then go on to chronic rheumatic valvular disease with all of its severe cardiologic manifestations and complications. What is especially intriguing to the students of this disease is why the disease is changing or disappearing in many parts of the world. Although better medical conditions, the use of penicillin, and changes in socioeconomic factors have obviously contributed, the decline occurred before the widespread use of antibiotics and is changing in parts of the world where less-thanoptimal medical and social conditions exist. Thus, as we shall discuss later, either there has been a subtle change in the organism's ability to cause this sequela or the host's susceptibility to the disease has changed in some manner, or a combination of both has occurred. It is perhaps surprising that after 50 years of intensive investigation, we still do not have a clear picture of the pathogenic mechanisms involved in this disease
منابع مشابه
Lewis Atterbury Conner: appreciation and bibliography.
Lewis Atterbury Conner, one of the founding group of the American Heart Association in 1924 and its first president in 1924 to 1925, is honored by the Lewis Conner Memorial Lecture at the annual American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. Conner was born in New Albany, Ind, and received the degree of bachelor of philosophy from the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in 1887. He ...
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عنوان ژورنال:
- Circulation
دوره 71 6 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 1985