Introduction
Acquired heart conditions are issues with your child’s heart that develop after birth. They can be caused by illnesses such as a bacterial or viral infection. They can also be the result of chronic diseases or medications that affect other areas of the body.
Types of Acquired heart disease
To understand the types of AHD, we first need to understand how the heart works. The heart is divided into four chambers, two on the right and two on the left. Each pair consists of an atria and a ventricle. Blood flows through these four chambers separately, meaning it does not mix between the chambers. The right side of the heart moves blood to the lungs through the lung (pulmonary) arteries. In the lungs, blood picks up oxygen then returns to the heart’s left side through the pulmonary veins. The left side of the heart then pumps the blood through the body’s main artery (aorta) and out to the rest of the body.
Although much less common in children than in adults, the commonest AHD in Kenya is Rheumatic heart disease (RHD). RHD is the damage to the heart valves caused by rheumatic fever, an inflammatory disease that affects the heart, skin brain and joints. Rheumatic fever most often results from the infection of the throat with a bacteria called streptococcus. Left untreated or undertreated, this infection leads to Rheumatic fever which ends up causing RHD. Over time, the heart valves become scarred, leading to narrowing or leaking. Rheumatic fever can also be linked with scarlet fever.
Other AHD include inflammation of the heart- endocarditis, pericarditis and myocarditis, cardiomyopathy which is a disease of the heart’s muscle fibers (the heart becomes stiff, thickened or enlarged) and Kawasaki disease which is the inflammation of the heart arteries that deliver oxygen-rich blood to the heart, called the coronary arteries. These artery walls balloon, a condition called an aneurysm.
In children, hypertension, syncope (fainting spells), orthostatic intolerance (inability to stand up straight) are also types of AHD.
Causes
Any disease that is not present at birth but occurs during the stage of life is known as an acquired disease. Rheumatic heart disease is he most commonly acquired heard disease in people under age 25. It claims over 288,348 lives each year (World Health Organization-WHO)