Penicillin and the marked decrease in morbidity and mortality from rheumatic fever in the United States.

Abstract

There has been a marked decline in mortality due to rheumatic fever in the United States. We present evidence for the important role of penicillin in changing the severity of rheumatic carditis, beginning about 1946. Since that year, mortality due to rheumatic carditis has rapidly decreased to zero at the hospital we studied (House of the Good Samaritan, Boston), the rate of loss of all murmurs in patients at the study hospital accelerated simultaneously and exceeded 40 percent by 1970, and the rates of decline in national mortality due to rheumatic carditis accelerated fourfold with the advent of antibiotics. These data, together with reports of recent outbreaks of rheumatic fever, emphasize the importance of continued efforts to diagnose and treat Group A streptococcal pharyngitis.

• Authors: B F Massell, C G Chute, A M Walker, G S Kurland
• Journal: The New England journal of medicine (N Engl J Med) Vol. 318 Issue 5 Pg. 280-6 (Feb 04 1988) ISSN: 0028-4793 [Print] United States
• PMID: 3336421 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.)

Chemical References

• Penicillins

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Humans
• Myocarditis (drug therapy, epidemiology, mortality)
• Penicillins (therapeutic use)
• Pharyngitis (drug therapy, epidemiology, mortality)
• Rheumatic Fever (drug therapy, epidemiology, mortality)
• Rheumatic Heart Disease (drug therapy, epidemiology, mortality)
• United States