Rheumatic Valvular Disease in Children

In the Middle Eastern states, in the developing countries of Southeast Asia and Africa with their vast populations, in the poverty-stricken Central and South American lands, and in other underprivileged parts of the world, rheumatic heart disease is a major problem with a high morbidity and mortality. In these areas the disease frequently attacks children, in whom the course is much more malignant than in adults. This re­ sults in severe pathologic changes in the cardiac valves from an early age