The Rôle of Infection in Rheumatic Children

This study was undertaken in order to find how far the routine supervision of rheumatic children in hospitals and clinics affects the tendency to recurrence of rheumatic manifestations. One hundred and fifty members of the Children's Heart Clinic of Washington University were included in this study. Cases were excluded in which the early history was inadequate or in which obvious rheumatic heart disease was present without a history of exudative signs, as it was on such signs that the study was based. The care in the clinic has been directed chiefly toward the improvement of the general health, whether in the child's own home or at Ridge Farm convalescent home, and has included measures directed toward removal of foci of infection. The periods over which the children have been watched vary between nine months and eleven years; 116 have been followed for more than one year and seventy-three for more