GUIDELINES - AHA updates advice on strep throat, preventing rheumatic fever

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AHA Updates Advice on Strep Throat, Preventing Rheumatic Fever

from Heartwire — a professional news service of WebMD

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March 6, 2009 — New advice on preventing rheumatic fever by the

appropriate diagnosis and treatment of acute streptococcal pharyngitis

has been published in a scientific statement from the American Heart

Association (AHA) [1].

Lead author Dr A Gerber (Cincinnati Children's Hospital, OH)

told heartwire this is an update to a statement issued in 1995 by the

same committee and that there are a few key differences between the

two, namely in certain issues regarding the diagnosis of strep throat

and serologic testing for antistreptococcal antibodies and in some of

the treatment recommendations for primary prevention of rheumatic

fever. The statement was published online February 26, 2009, in

Circulation.

In an accompanying editorial [2], Dr Alan L Bisno (University of

Miami, FL) says: " The task facing the primary-care physician is to

identify and appropriately treat the minority of sore-throat patients

suffering from strep throat and to avoid unnecessary and potentially

deleterious treatment for the remainder, who likely suffer from

self-limited viral pharyngitis. The most appropriate methods to

accomplish this task are, in my opinion, well enunciated in the [new]

AHA statement. "

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/589223

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