Important Health Message – Acute Rheumatic Fever
This is a health warning.
Right now, many of our children and young males and females in our community are getting Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease.
This is serious. Rheumatic Fever can damage our heart.
Watch out for children and young males and females with.
1. Painful joints (like ankle, knees, hip or elbow, wrist, shoulder) and
2. Fever (feeling cold and shivering but when you feel their forehead they feel very hot to touch).
Bring these children and young males and females to the clinic so we can give them medicine.
This medicine will stop this sickness and prevent heart damage.
Where does rheumatic fever start?
Rheumatic fever starts with a sore throat and sometimes with sores on our skin.
One germ called “Strep” lives in the throat and in skin sores.
When you see pus in skin sores, it means that strep germs are camping there.
They have found a good camping place and are growing and multiplying there.
Or, if we have a sore throat with pus, the same germ is living there.
These “Strep” germs get inside our children’s body and damage their heart.
Penicillin Medicine kills these strep germs and keeps your heart good.
This is a Take Heart – important health message.
Also Available in: Burarra, Yolngu Matha, Pitjantjatjara, Walpiri, Anindilykaw and West West Kimberley Kriol. See below…
To learn more about Rheumatic Heart Disease watch the Take Heart Short Film ‘What is RHD? Rheumatic Heart Disease’
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