In the ongoing recent coverage of things that should have been under control infectious disease-wise, 60 minutes had...

In the ongoing recent coverage of things that should have been under control infectious disease-wise, 60 minutes had a segment on tonight about the children dying in Africa of rheumatic heart disease, a sequela of strep throat.
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/preview-emergency/
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/preview-emergency

Comments

  1. Amy YoungMay 11, 2014 at 5:29 PM

    I seem to recall hearing that sending penicillin to Africa was generally disallowed due to potential allergy issues, despite the many problems (like strep throat et seq) it would also solve, and despite it being so cheap that we could send it by the tens of tons.

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  2. Amanda RoseMay 11, 2014 at 6:01 PM

    Mom had rheumatic fever as a kid. It gave her lifelong joint problems and took her out of school from part of kindergarten through part of third grade.

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  3. Amy YoungMay 11, 2014 at 8:22 PM

    Once I learned as a child that step was generally self-limiting as a disease, I became much less cooperative the next time they wanted to stab me in the ass with a penicillin shot for my then-annual strep. The doctor had to explain rheumatic fever in rather more detail than an 11-year-old would ordinarily ever want to hear before I would hold still for it.

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  4. Amanda RoseMay 11, 2014 at 8:26 PM

    I'm just glad I was born at a time where 1) we have antibiotics to start with and 2) in varieties other than penicillin (allergic).

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  5. Amy YoungMay 11, 2014 at 8:28 PM

    Penicillin was, last I knew, still the drug of choice for strep. Other things work, obviously, which is good for the allergic.

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  6. F-L SilverMay 11, 2014 at 9:08 PM

    Penicillin is THE drug of choice for strep throat, and it works, and you can take it as a pill now, instead of having a sore butt muscle for weeks.

    Unfortunately, the report seems to indicate that people have to get to a doctor to get treated and my impression is that: a) this is very expensive relative to real resources, and b) doctors (or other health care workers) are few and very far between.

    I was thinking about the rapid strep tests that we have, though, and that if there was a way to have non-doctor type health care workers more accessible, they could do this and treat so many kids. If there is some issue with the penicillin itself, I would think there would need to be encouragement for the governments of these countries to buy it, or get help officially doing so.

    Speaking of which, they did not dwell on it, but pointed out that the organization the Italian heart surgeon started and is key to, is willing to and does work with any "government" so they can help people. Including ones that are being charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes. I suspect this causes issues in some quarters. For good reason, but the ethics of international health care are not simplistic. Or maybe it's the diplomacy. Either way.

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