Sore throats matter: Health workers in partnership to target rheumatic fever in Kaikohe

Health workers in the mid North are taking a successful school-based rheumatic fever prevention programme to the Kaikohe area. The programme, which involves taking throat swabs from children with sore throats, has successfully eradicated the disease in the Whangaroa area
Northland DHB is working in partnership with Tihewa Mauriora Primary Health Organisation (PHO) to ensure that Kaikohe schoolchildren are protected against rheumatic fever.

Rheumatic fever can lead to rheumatic heart disease, a serious condition causing premature death.

Under the programme, two community health workers will make regular visits to all Kaikohe schools throughout the school year. Targeting children aged from five up to 18 year-olds, the nurses will visit each classroom and check whether any children are experiencing a sore throat.

Those with sore throats will have a simple throat swab taken, and if tests then show that the Streptococcus A bacterium is present, they will be treated with a free 10-day course of antibiotics.

Rheumatic fever follows an untreated throat infection caused by the Streptococcus A bacterium. Antibiotics prevent rheumatic fever from developing, and a throat swab is the only way to distinguish between a "Strep A" throat and a viral sore throat.

A person with a Group A Strep sore throat which is left untreated has a one in 30 chance of developing rheumatic fever. The average time between the sore throat and the onset of rheumatic fever is 19 days, so it is very important to start antibiotic treatment as early as possible, and to complete the course.

The common symptoms of rheumatic fever are a high fever and painful arthritis. Up to 50 per cent of sufferers also experience inflammation of the heart, which can cause permanent heart damage.

Between five and 10 Northlanders die prematurely each year from chronic rheumatic heart disease caused by rheumatic fever, usually when they are aged in their 30s or 40s, and up to 20 years after having the illness.

Dr Jonathan Jarman, Northland's Medical Officer of Health, said: "Northland DHB is taking action against rheumatic fever in Northland, because it is a preventable disease that affects children. The message we are spreading is ‘Sore throats matter'".

Kaikohe has an average of two cases of rheumatic fever each year.

Dr Jarman said that the initial programme in Kaikohe will last 5 years and then will be evaluated to see what sort of impact it has made on children developing rheumatic fever.

The preventative programme was previously run in the Whangaroa area, where there were very high levels of rheumatic fever, and the disease has now been eradicated in that area. If the Kaikohe programme achieves the same level of success it may be extended to other areas of the mid and Far North where the disease is prevalent, such as Kaitaia, Hokianga, Moerewa and Kawakawa.



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For further information, please contact:

Clare Blackburn, Communications Manager

Northland District Health Board 

Phone (09) 430 4101 ext 3315