Rheumatic fever and its sequelae are of far greater significance in civilian life than is generally appreciated. Swift1 indicates in his survey of New York State for 1938 that there were more than five times as many deaths from rheumatic heart disease as from whooping cough, measles, epidemic meningitis and anterior poliomyelitis combined. He also estimated that there were in excess of 460,000 individuals in the United States with rheumatic heart disease. Acute rheumatic fever has been considered as essentially a disease of childhood, but it has become a very serious problem among adults in the armed forces. Under the supervision of the Air Surgeon, a program for the control of rheumatic fever and streptococcic infections has been established in the Army Air Forces. Credit for the success of the program belongs to the commanding general of the Army Air Forces, whose cooperation made it possible, and to the