RESUMO
The aim of this study is to specify the characteristics of rheumatic fever in children in the Ibn Zohr Hospital of Marrakech. 450 cases of rheumatic fever were collected from 1995 to 1999 and they represented 6.54% of the whole hospitalizations. The mean age was 9.4 year-old. The socio-economic status was very low in stand 87.8% of cases. A personal history of rheumatic fever was found in 12.9% of cases and a family history in 3%. 89.5% of children had recurrent pharyngitis. Fever was present in 88.8% of children, arthritis in 74.3% and rheumatic heart disease in 52%. Sedimentation rate and serologic test of streptococcal was frequently abnormal. Electrocardiography was abnormal in 12.7% of cases. Echocardiography, performed in only 47 cases, was abnormal in 39 cases. All the children had penicillin prophylaxis, 67.7% were treated by steroids and 31.7% by aspirin. 3 patients died, and 77 children presented persistent heart valves disease. We recommend the application of the National Program for the Prevention of Rheumatic Fever, and the education of the population for the prevention of infectious diseases