In view of the evidence which has been presented that hyaluronidase is not inhibited by salicylates in therapeutic concentrations, it would seem that Guerra's explanation of the anti-rheumatic action of these drugs in terms of hyaluronidase inhibition must be abandoned. The question naturally arises as to whether or no their apparent anti-histamine action can be invoked in this connexion, as we...

Although it has as yet not been possible to demonstrate the specific role of a causative organism in rheumatic fever, there has been considerable epidemiologic (1) and serologic (2) evidence of some relationship between the hemolytic streptococcus and this disease. Studies of both cellular and extracellular substances of the hemolytic streptococcus have with rare exceptions shown that groups of...

Despite improvements in socio-economic status and the standard of health care services, rheumatic fever continuous to occur in Saudi Arabia, although with decreasing frequency. The disease is most commonly observed in school-aged children, but can also occur in a younger age group. Carditis and arthritis are the major clinical symptoms on presentation of acute rheumatic fever in young children....

The pathogenesis of rheumatic fever has been linked to various immune mechanisms involving streptococcal antibodies and heart tissue antigens. Latent myocarditis due to group B coxsackievirus has also been considered as a possible conditioning factor. The validity of the role of infection with group B coxsackievirus in rheumatic fever was tested by determining the incidence of type-specific neu...

No specific diagnostic test for rheumatic fever has been available to date (1). The tryptophannicotinic acid metabolic series was studied exhaustively in the present work. This investigation was based on a previous observation that the tetrahydrofurfuryl ester of nicotinic acid elicited a different response in the skin of patients suffering from active rheumatic fever than in the skin of nonrhe...

This monograph is a comprehensive treatise on a subject of constant interest to pediatricians and internists alike. The author's close personal contact with rheumatic fever and its equivalents, together with a broad knowledge of the concepts of other workers in this field, has given the volume a well-deserved air of authority. This work is a decidedly ambitious one, dividing a subject with wide...

During and immediately following World War II the opportunity presented itself to observe numerous cases of rheumatic fever in young adults. The present study was undertaken from patients admitted to the Brooke General Hospital over a period of one year. There were four hundred patients admitted for rheumatic fever during this time. Observation of each patient included the history, physical exa...

Thirty-five year-old Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna after an acute illness that lasted only 15 days but no consensus has been reached on the cause of his death. From many letters written by his farther it is almost certain that he experienced at least three episodes of acute rheumatic fever attack in his childhood, and a relapse of rheumatic fever was suggested to have killed Mozart, although de...

THE MATURATION of the rheumatic process in man requires a summation of several factors. As pointed out by McKusick (1), “presumably, genetic factors determine the qualitative and/or quantitative nature of the host response to repeated streptococcal infections. The mechanism of this gene action is, of course, of great interest but is unknown.” In studying the roles of the genes and nutrition on ...