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The results suggest that timely injection and patient education are priorities for managing ARF and RHD, particularly focusing on child-to-adult transition care.
Rheumatic heart disease in pregnancy persists in First Nations people in Australia and New Zealand and is associated with major cardiac and perinatal morbidity
Pregnancy provides an opportunity to strengthen health system responses and address whole-of-life health for women with rheumatic heart disease
The ERASE Project has created an unprecedented linked administrative database on acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Australia
Efforts to eliminate ARF and RHD in Australia over the past decade have so far been unsuccessful, but this can change
These results indicate that anaphylaxis is not a major cause of adverse reactions to benzathine penicillin G
The social determinants of health such as access to income, education, housing and healthcare, strongly shape the occurrence of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease at the household, community and national levels.
Jonathan Carapetis AM AM MBBS FRACP FAFPHM PhD FAHMS Executive Director; Co-Head, Strep A Translation; Co-Founder of REACH 08 6319 1000 contact@
Acute rheumatic fever (ARF), a serious inflammatory condition, often leads to rheumatic heart disease. Between 2011 and 2016, Aotearoa New Zealand implemented a rheumatic fever prevention programme to reduce high rates of ARF through improved community access to timely diagnosis and early treatment of group A streptococcal pharyngitis, which has been shown to prevent subsequent ARF.
Secondary prophylaxis to prevent rheumatic heart disease (RHD) progression, in the form of four-weekly intramuscular benzathine benzylpenicillin G (BPG) injections, has remained unchanged since 1955. Qualitative investigations into patient preference have highlighted the need for long-acting penicillins to be delivered less frequently, ideally with reduced pain.