Rheumatic fever in the children's hospital of Rabat, about 116 cases (2014–2016).

Acute rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease of childhood that occurs following untreated Group A streptococcal pharyngeal infection. It remains a major public health problem in Morocco and other developing countries. Our retrospective study included 116 rheumatic fever (RF) cases, collected from the echographic register of the pediatric cardiology unit in the children's hospital of Rabat, which are divided into 72 new cases of RF and 54 cases of rheumatic fever control, followed by echography between 2014–2016. The analysis of the 72 new cases of RF shows that: the hospital incidence was 0.21% with a mean age of 10.34 years. The sex-ratio M/F was 1.04. The notion of repeated angina was found in 65% of the cases. Rheumatic Signes were notice in 87.5% of patients, chorea in 8.3% of cases and erythema marginatum in 2.7% of cases. The inflammatory syndrome was disrupted in almost all cases, and all patients had positive ASLO. 50% of the cases had a rheumatic heart disease, it was dominated by the Mitral regurgitation in 39% of the cases and mitral + aortic regurgitation in 27.8% of cases. All patients received antibiotic treatment, corticosteroids and antibiotic prophylaxis. For the 54 cases of RF control followed by echography, we notice that the lesions disappeared in 31% of cases and were stabilized in 26% of cases, and we also notice an aggravation in 13% of cases undergoing surgical treatment. The hospital incidence of RF has declined over the last three decades, The global incidence of RAA in Morocco depends on the level of medicalization. We notice an over diagnostic of RF. Severe forms of rheumatic heart disease are mostly found in areas with under medical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]