ACUTE RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE TREATED WITH STREPTOCOCCUS ANTITOXIN (SCARLET FEVER SERUM

Abstract

History. —Jean C. J., aged 3½ years, referred by Dr. McCaffery of Freeport, Pa., had been taken ill three weeks prior to hospitalization with irregular fever, later occasional delirium and one mild convulsive attack, sweats, definite but not severe mobile arthritis, and myositis. The previous history was negative. Examination. —The child was well developed and exceedingly bright, pale, and sensitive to pain. The tonsils were large and acutely inflamed, the tonsillar nodes large and tender. The lungs were normal. The heart was enlarged; there was a mitral murmur. The liver was normal. The spleen was palpable at the costal margin. The abdomen otherwise was normal. The joints of the extremities were slightly swollen but very painful and tender, especially the knees and ankles. Course of the Disease. —There was a relapsing fever for six weeks. The eighth week was ushered in with a septic temperature curve