Adjustment Problems of Six Children With Rheumatic Fever in Foster Care, Under Supervision of the New York Foundling Hospital

There is a growing awareness of the need for further research into the cause of heart diseases acquired from rheumatic fever. Interest in rheumatic fever was greatly stimulated during the war years since this illness proved to be one of the more important causes of rejection for military service and because many acute cases were encountered in the ranks in more or less epidemic form. Rheumatic fever is a baffling disease in many respects as the medical profession is handicapped in its study by the absence of a specific diagnostic test. Rheumatic fever is known to be a respiratory disease, a contact disease, and a crowd disease. Beyond this, medical knowledge becomes sharply limited in attempting to classify it on epidemiological grounds. From the standpoint of etiology, rheumatic fever is “only one of a group of conditions known now as streptococcal disease, which means that the scourge, the Group A hemolytic streptococcus, is one of the responsible causative agents.” It is not, therefore, amenable to direct attack by medical and public health procedure. Such control as can be obtained will depend upon good teamwork by all those concerned with the rheumatic child - physicians, parents, teachers and social workers