الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The present study included the members of 15,families, each haVing more than one sib affected with rheumatic fever. They were 30 parents (2 were rhuemaU.cs), 32 rheumatic and 29 healthy sibs. Only those sibs above the age of 5 years were inclUded to allow rheumatic fever susceptibility to become apparent. In only four families were the parents consanguinous All the rheumatic individuals showed the sequelae of rheumatic carditis, but on clinical and laboratory evidene, the disease was inactive. They were free from any other diseases and receiving no treatment except long-acting penicillin for at least the preceding 6 months and stopped using it for one month before the investigation. In addition, 50 completly normal unrelated indiViduals having no rheumatic first degree relatives were taken as control. The following investigations were carried out for all the individuals: (1) History and clinical examination. (2) Acute phase reactants and ASO titer to exclude activity and recent streptococcal infection. (3) HLA typing for all the members of affected families. (4)T cell subsets (Helper T cell%, Suppressor T cell%)and HIS ratio in the lymphocytic culture prior to antigenic stimUlation. (5) Ce11 nediatid immune response to SPA-CW in vitro as measured by H thymidine uptake.