An epidemiological study of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Lagos.

Abstract

SUmmARY In Lagos 12 755 schoolchildren aged between six and 12 years were screened for evidence of rheumatic heart disease and showed a prevalence rate of 0.03 %. Group C (27.7%) and group G (47 *3 %.) predominated in the throat and in cases of pharyngitis, while group A predominated on the skin. Two hundred and sixty-six cases of pharyngitis were recorded, 70 (26.4%) were positive for 3-haemolytic streptococci. Half of the cases of streptococci were caused by group A 3-haemolytic streptococci while 28.2 % and 21.1 /% were caused by groups C and G respectively. A diversity of serotypes of group A streptococci, which included types 49 and 55, and C and G streptococci were isolated from impetiginous skin lesions. The main point of interest is the association of group C and G streptococci with sore throat and skin infections. The pathogenicity of C and G in such circumstances merits further investigation. The present study also showed that prophylactic benzathine penicillin (Penadur) given to patients with rheumatic heart disease or rheumatic fever had been effective with no recurrent attack of acute rheumatic fever.

Streptococcal throat carriage in a population of nursery and primary school pupils in Benin City, Nigeria

“…9,10 Some other Nigerian studies however reported lower βHS throat carriage rates. In 1999, Sadoh and co worker 17 reported a βHS carriage rate of 9.8% in Edo State while Ogunbi et al 16 reported a carriage rate of 13.3% in 1978 in Lagos State. Studies done in other countries reveal a wide range of βHS carriage rates including 8.3% in Croatia, 21 19.5% in South India 13 and 28.5% in Lucknow.…”

“…14 In Nigeria, there is a dearth of data on GAS throat carriage. Different authors have reported different throat carriage rates in previous studies ranging from 0% to 32.7% , [15][16][17] The variations in these results, as well as the fact that none of these studies evaluated throat carriage in preschool aged pupils highlights the need for a new study which will include preschool aged children. This is particularly important as invasive GAS diseases in this age group may contribute to high underfive morbidity and mortality rates.…”

Air Pollution and Climate Change in Lagos, Nigeria: Needs for Proactive Approaches to Risk Management and Adaptation

“…Cases of respiratory diseases and even death have been reported in Lagos (Ogunbi et al, 1978;Olowoporoku et al, 2012). An epidemiological study by (Olowoporoku et al, 2012) showed a growing evidence of relationship between air pollution and mortality, hospital admissions for respiratory or cardiovascular disease and an associated increased risk of myocardial infarction in Lagos.…”

Rheumatic Heart Disease in Schoolchildren from Al-Medina Al-Mounawarrah District, Saudi Arabia

“…The prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in schoolchildren ranges from 0.1 per 1,000 in children from developed countries to 20 per 1,000 in developing countries [7][8][9][15][16][17]. Our study showed a prevalence of rheumatic heart disease of 2.2 per 1,000 in urban schoolchildren and 3.3 per 1,000 in rural schoolchildren, with an average 2.4 per 1,000 for the group as a whole (6 to 15 years old).…”