This week is the Rheumatic Heart Disease Week

We closed off with Dr Liesl Zühlke - a Paediatric Cardiologist from the University of Cape Town. We were talking about Rheumatic heart disease as we know that this week is the Rheumatic Heart Disease Week. According to the World Heart Federation, over 15 million people around the world suffer from the condition, which kills hundreds of thousands of people a year and is the most common acquired heart disease found among children and young people in developing countries. Rheumatic heart disease is a rare form of heart disease that typically affects children, that’s caused by having rheumatic fever, which itself is a complication from the strep throat bacteria. The inflammation from rheumatic fever causes the heart valves to become weaker and not push through the blood as they should, thus creating heart disease and also impacts on the skin, joints and nervous system. The best ways to avoid rheumatic heart disease is to treat strep throat when your child (or you) has it by seeing a doctor immediately and begin antibiotic treatments because then it does not have the opportunity to turn into rheumatic fever and cause heart problems. For more information you can contact your local clinic or day hospital or go to www.rhdafrica.org