The revelation that rheumatic heart disease (RHD) affects one in every 50 children in Fiji, with 4958 active cases in the country now is cause for concern. In fact it should attract a lot of attention!
Speaking at a World Oral Health Day workshop in Suva yesterday, Dr Hinal Tailor, the pediatric registrar at the CWM Hospital said RHD was one of the leading causes of death in young people and the second most common cause of death in pregnant women.
Dr Tailor emphasised that last year, the rate of infected patients taking benzathine injections — an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections like mild to moderate infections and used to prevent rheumatic fever — was low.
You would assume it was a positive factor, but it wasn’t! It was 34 per cent, she revealed, when the target was 80 per cent. It meant a lot of people who were supposed to be taking the injections were not taking them!
That is a major concern! Patients who did not take the injection were at risk of having another episode of rheumatic fever, and any infection, she said, caused further risk of heart damage and heart failure. She revealed there were deaths recently from RHD, and many were young children.
The youngest patient being reviewed for RHD was only three years old. Benzathine injections are important as they prevent patients from getting severe sickness, and it’s critically important for children not to miss any of their scheduled injections to prevent rheumatic heart fever and damage to their heart walls.
“If it’s a severe rheumatic heart disease, children will get injections every three weeks, and if it’s mild to moderate, it’s every four weeks,” she said.
Now getting these injections can be painful, and while this remains a major challenge, it is important that families understand the need for them.
Dr Tailor urged families not to skip appointments, as the younger the child, the more severe the disease they tend to develop.
“It shortens the lifespan of the child as well,” she said. In saying that, we reflect on what the World Health Organization says about RHD. It lists RHD as the most commonly acquired heart disease in people under the age of 25. It claims over 288, 348 lives each year – the large majority in low- or middle-income countries.
According to the WHO, the disease results from damage to heart valves caused by one or several episodes of rheumatic fever, an autoimmune inflammatory reaction to throat infection with group A streptococci (streptococcal pharyngitis or strep throat).
It most commonly occurs in childhood, and can lead to death or life-long disability. The best news though is that RHD can be prevented by preventing streptococcal infections, or treating them with antibiotics when they do occur. And that is a positive factor.
So on the homefront, let’s be vigilant and proactive. Let’s understand the disease, take precautions and refer loved ones with sore throats to the doctor as soon as possible. We call on the powers that be to spread the message of RHD.
We call for more awareness! Remember, it can be prevented and controlled!
