Long-awaited update on estimates of acute rheumatic fever in Africa

Abstract

Despite being the only cardiovascular disease of global impact that has been proven to be completely preventable, rheumatic heart disease remains prevalent in low-income and middle-income countries,1 including those in Africa, where primary prevention programmes are not well established due to lack of available resources.2 An understanding of the epidemiology of rheumatic heart disease has been facilitated through the number of studies published over the past decade, including some on group A streptococcus, the preceding infection thought to initiate the cascade of events leading to permanent valve damage.