Boy, 5, who died from COVID had heart disease

The five-year-old boy who is one of Guyana’s latest COVID-19 deaths was also diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease, according to reliable information provided to the News Room.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), rheumatic heart disease results from damage to heart valves caused by one or several episodes of rheumatic fever, an autoimmune inflammatory reaction to throat infection with Group A streptococci (streptococcal pharyngitis or strep throat).

This disease, the WHO said, most commonly occurs in childhood and can lead to death or life-long disability.

The young boy died on November 29, after he was infected with the novel coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19. He is the eleventh child to have died from the disease here.