Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical and evolutive aspects of Sydenham’s chorea.

Background: Sydenham’s chorea is a rare movement disorder associated to streptococcal infection. It is the most common acquired chorea in children. Few African studies have been reported.

Methods: This was a prospective study of the descriptive and analytic type that included for 12 months from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017, all patients admitted to the neurology department of Conakry University Hospital with a clinically diagnosed Sydenham’s chorea, for whom blood test (NFS, VS, ASLO, CRP, SRV, TPHA / VDRL, uric acid, blood Ionogram, blood sugar) and cardiac investigation (Electrocardiogram, ultrasound) was performed. Sociodemographic, clinical, paraclinical and evolutive data were collected, and analysed with SPSS 20.0 software. Any p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significance.

Results: Thirty-one out of 423 patients (7.32%) were diagnosed during our study period. The mean age was 9.56 ± 10 years, with extremes of 4 and 26 years. Female were more represented (Sex ratio = 2.44). More than half of the patients had a history of recurrent tonsillitis. The clinical manifestations were abnormal movements (100%); hypotonia (78.6%); dysarthria (51.9%); neuropsychiatric disorders (41.13%). Cardiac explorations revealed carditis in 29.2%. After 6 months follow-up, 51% of the patients had a favorable evolution, 33% had a recurrence and 16% were lost of sight.

Conclusions: The diagnosis of Sydenham’s chorea is clinical; 20% of patients may not have high levels of antistreptolysin O, which means that their absence does not exclude the diagnosis. Recurrences are frequent.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/sydenhams-chorea-realities-and-challenges-in-sub-saharan-africa/