Rare Diseases Symptoms Automatic Extraction

Does it make sense to detect Streptococcus pyogenes during tonsillitis in Europe to prevent acute rheumatic fever?

[acute rheumatic fever]

French health authorities constantly publish public health recommendations, and ever since the pay-for-performance (P4P) program was implemented in France, physicians have been more motivated to follow them [1]. Currently, guidelines regarding pharyngeal infection, one of the most common community-acquired infections [2], recommend the use of a Centor clinical scoring system to identify patients with high probability of group A Streptococcus (GAS) pharyngitis and the use of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) to confirm the microbiological diagnosis [3]. Antibiotic therapy is recommended only for patients with microbiological evidence of GAS, with the aims of reducing the duration and severity of clinical symptoms and of preventing post-streptococcal complications. The public health objectives of these guidelines are to avoid inappropriate antibiotic treatments, to minimize the risk of antibiotic resistance, and to limit the costs of pharmaceutical expenditures. Despite the P4P incentives, there remained some risk-averse physicians who prescribed more antibiotics when they did not use RATs than risk-tolerant doctors did [4]. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Diseases presenting "common community-acquired infections [2" symptom

  • acute rheumatic fever

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