INCIDENCE OF RHEUMATISM, CHOREA AND HEART DISEASE IN TONSILLECTOMIZED CHILDREN

Abstract

The great problems in the control of heart disease in children are the determination of the unknown factors in etiology and the methods of prevention of chorea, rheumatic fever and other infections which are generally assumed to be present before the heart valves are involved. Carditis frequently follows scarlet fever, chorea and rheumatic fever. Frequent attacks of sore throat may precede these infections, so that the tonsils are in many instances looked on as the portal of entry and perhaps a factor in their occurrence. In view of the serious and chronic nature of rheumatic heart disease and the relative ease with which the tonsils can be removed, it seems extremely important to establish a relationship between these symptoms and the tonsils. With the increasing number of tonsillectomized children in a community, the incidence of the rheumatic manifestations can be observed in a large group in whom operation has been