Since 2019, the RAA Center has regularly organized screening campaigns directly in schools. This week the team moved to the college of Paea with the aim of tracking down the 150 students enrolled in 6e.
The program to combat acute articular rheumatism launched in 2019 by the Health Department is continuing. It is the RAA centre, of which screening is one of the major activities, which is in charge of enforcing it. Thus, since its creation, each year, the center gives a point of honor to school screening. In collaboration with the Directorate General for Teaching and Education (DGEE) and the heads of the colleges, the team made up of a doctor and three nurses travels to the establishments to carry out heart ultrasounds on the college students. “We chose children aged 6e for reasons of peak incidence since the disease is more frequent between 5 and 14 years of age”explains Dr. Segalen, director of the center.
Since last week, it is at the college of Paea that the team has settled. Objective: to screen the 150 students of 6e enrolled in the institution. For the principal of the college, Christophe Tellier, it is important to participate in this campaign organized jointly by the Ministry of Health and the DGEE. “We want to facilitate the reception of this staff in a school environment in action and also work on communication and dialogue with families”.
This quick and painless exam takes about 5 minutes. Children in whom abnormalities are detected are then followed up and invited to see a cardiologist at the center of the RAA. Over the 2021/2022 school year, 2,849 children benefited from these screenings and 262 were seen by a cardiologist. In total, this previous campaign thus made it possible to identify 91 children suffering from cardiac sequelae of RAA. For the current year, the center is planning screenings in Tahiti, the Tuamotus, the Australs or even in the Marquesas… The objective is to successfully cover the entire Polynesian territory by 2024.
Acute rheumatic fever (RAA) is a non-communicable inflammatory disease. This is a complication of untreated pharyngitis, due to Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus). RAA mostly affects individuals between the ages of 5 and 15. The disease can lead to inflammation and heart damage. The most serious heart damage requires heart valve replacement. AAR first manifests as short-lived joint pain and swelling, then as carditis (inflammation of the heart) or abnormal involuntary movements (chorea) related to inflammation of the brain. Skin rashes or subcutaneous nodules may also be observed.