MYOCARDITIS IN CHILDREN

With the exception of myocarditis in rheumatic heart disease and myocardial degeneration associated with diphtheria, myocardial disease in children has received scant attention.

The meager literature on the subject of myocarditis reveals a wide divergence of opinion. Some authors maintain that myocarditis in children is rare except in association with rheumatic fever and diphtheria¹; other authors state that, though rare as a primary disease it is common as a secondary disorder in acute infectious diseases.² Still others believe that the most important lesion in connection with carditis is myocarditis.³ Gibson⁴ recently stressed that from the standpoint of causation the majority of cardiac ailments fall into four groups: congenital anomalies of the heart, rheumatic heart disease, cardiovascular syphilis and degenerative lesions. Mention was also made of acute and subacute bacterial endocarditis. It is interesting that rheumatic heart disease was referred to as such but that myocarditis as