India among 5 countries with highest rheumatic heart disease deaths
With 1,19,100 deaths, India is among
the five nations -- Indonesia, the DR Congo, China and Pakistan -- that
accounted for 73 per cent of rheumatic heart disease deaths globally in 2015, a
study has showed. The death toll in the other four nations stood at 1.18
million in Indonesia, 8,05,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 72,600
in China and 18,900 in Pakistan.
Rheumatic heart disease is a
condition of damaged heart valves caused by bacterial infection that leads to
rheumatic fever. The highest estimated death rates -- more than 10 per 1,00,000
-- occurred in India, the Central African Republic, Federated States of
Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Lesotho, Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New
Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.
"The persistence of rheumatic
fever and rheumatic heart disease reflects the challenges many countries face
in improving the social, environmental, and economic conditions that lead to
the disease," said Gregory A. Roth, Assistant Professor at the University
of Washington
Further, the study showed that
mortality has not appreciably declined in these regions, which include some of
the world's poorest countries, since 1990, although the risk of death from the
disease has dropped around the world over the last 25 years.
The number of individuals who were
living with rheumatic heart disease had not declined, either, the researchers
said in the paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine. In
addition, about one per cent of school age children in these endemic countries
have evidence of rheumatic heart disease.
"We have very cost-effective
interventions that treat strep throat and prevent rheumatic fever and rheumatic
heart disease from getting worse, but these children often don't have access to
the care they need," said David Watkins, from the University of Washington
School of Medicine.
28.08.2017
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