Rheumatic heart disease screening can prevent permanent heart damage

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — New cases of children with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) have been identified from among the 2,000 local residents who were screened by the Birmingham Young University RHD Relief Team, working with Health Department, more than two weeks ago.

DoH said in a public notice late last month that RHD is a condition in which the heart valves have been permanently damaged by rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that can affect many connective tissues, especially in the heart. Untreated or under-treated strep infections put a person at increased risk.

The BYU Relief Team free-screening was conducted at various locations island-wide from  Aug. 26 to Sept. 07. And the screening was to find kids with leaky heart valves due to Rheumatic Heart Disease. “Your child may have RHD and not know it. Early screening and treatment will protect their hearts from further damage and heart failure,” DoH said at the time.

Results of the heart screening, which includes adults, were presented yesterday during the DoH news conference dealing with the department’s various programs.

Ipuniuesea Eliapo-Unutoa, with the DoH heart disease program, provided a summary update, saying that a little over 2,000 people including adults were screened in the BYU RHD project and “we found about 23 new cases of children ages 3 to 17 that were just walking around not knowing that they have leaky valves due to rheumatic heart disease or acute rheumatic fever.”

She explained that these youngsters are beomg processed, Xrayed md and the visiting cardiologist with the BYU Relief Team was able to provide medication to these children.

She also said that the children would now go through the DoH community health center, where they will be able to receive injections every three weeks. And this service is free of charge from DoH.

For the adult population — 18 years and older — who were screened during the BYU Relief Team’s visit,  about 7 new adult cases were identified and the adults have been referred to LBJ Medical Center cardiologist, providing direct care for those cases.

While DoH combs through the results making sure that the children start getting the care they need, Eliapo-Unutoa delivered an important message to the community, especially parents, “if your child gets a sore throat...joint-pain”, don’t give the child Tylenol or stay at home.

“They need to come in to see a doctor right away. They need to be assessed if they have strep infections, so they get treatment right away, to prevent damage to their heart,” she said.

Also discovered during the RHD free screening, was “a very high number of people with high blood pressure,” said Eliapo-Unutoa, who added that these individuals have been informed to see a health provider right away and therefore should make an appointment right away with the DoH health centers.

“Take care of that blood pressure,” she said, and she thanked — on behalf of DoH — all of the partners including ASG and the community that supported and worked together on this important project.

Samoa News will report in future editions other DoH programs presented during the news conference.