Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffRheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that can develop as a complication of untreated or poorly treated strep throat. Strep throat is caused by infection with group A streptococcus bacteria.
Rheumatic fever is most common in 5- to 15-year-old children, though it can develop in younger children and adults. Recurring episodes of rheumatic fever most often affect people when they are about 25 to 35 years of age.
Although it's relatively rare in United States and other developed countries, rheumatic fever remains common in many developing nations.
Rheumatic fever can cause permanent damage to the heart that may result in serious harm to the heart valves and heart failure. Treatments can reduce tissue damage from inflammation, lessen pain and other symptoms, and prevent the recurrence of rheumatic fever.
- Rheumatic fever. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec19/ch281/ch281a.html. Accessed Dec. 3, 2008.
- Carapetis JR, et al. Acute rheumatic fever. Lancet. 2005;366:155-168.
- Gibofsky A, et al. Epidemiology and pathogenesis of acute rheumatic fever. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 4, 2008.
- Gibofsky A, et al. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 4, 2008.
- Hahn RG, et al. Evaluation of poststreptococcal illness. American Family Physician. 2005;71:1949-1954.
- Strep throat: Symptoms. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/strepThroat/symptoms.htm. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Parenting corner Q&A: Sore throat. American Academy of Pediatrics. http://www.aap.org/publiced/BK0_SoreThroat.htm. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- When your infant or child has a fever. American Academy of Family Physicians. http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/children/parents/common/common/069.html. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Gerber M. Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A streptococcus). In: Long S, et al., eds. Principles and Practice of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/113823919-10/783584111/1679/122.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-443-06687-0..50121-1--cesec21_2521. Accessed Dec. 15, 2008.
- Weinberg G. Rheumatic fever. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: Home Edition for Patients and Caregivers. http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec23/ch272/ch272h.html. Accessed Dec. 3, 2008.
- Gibofsky A, et al. Treatment and prevention of acute rheumatic fever. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 4, 2008.
