THE INCIDENCE OF ACUTE RHEUMATIC FEVER AT BELLEVUE HOSPITAL

Abstract

On returning in the spring of 1919 to service in the wards of Bellevue Hospital, after a two years' absence, I was struck by the fact that there were no cases of acute rheumatism in the service. My memory was that spring and summer were the months when formerly there had been the largest number of cases. The house staff, on being questioned, seemed to accept it as not unusual; and though their memory dated back but two years at most, still it was evident that they were accustomed to the occurrence of fewer cases of the disease than had been my own hospital experience. There were admitted into Bellevue Hospital 6,535 cases of acute rheumatic fever from January, 1906, to Sept. 1, 1919. Unfortunately, the records of the last four months of 1919 are still incomplete for the moment. In dealing with any hospital history records, with a varying