What is Rheumatic fever?

What is Rheumatic fever?

• Rheumatic fever: An inflammatory disorder that can occur as a complication of untreated streptococcal bacterial infection such as strep throat or scarlet fever. The condition may affect the brain, skin, heart and joints.
• Rheumatic fever: febrile disease occurring as a delayed sequela of infections with group A hemolytic streptococci and characterized by multiple focal inflammatory lesions of the connective tissue structures, especially of the heart, blood vessels, and joints (polyarthritis), and by the presence of Aschoff bodies in the myocardium and skin.
  Source - Diseases Database
• Rheumatic fever: a severe disease chiefly of children and characterized by painful inflammation of the joints and frequently damage to the heart valves.
  Source - WordNet 2.1

Rheumatic fever is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Rheumatic fever, or a subtype of Rheumatic fever, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Ophanet, a consortium of European partners, currently defines a condition rare when it affects 1 person per 2,000. They list Rheumatic fever as a "rare disease".
Source - Orphanet

Rheumatic fever: Introduction

Types of Rheumatic fever:

Types of Rheumatic fever:

• Acute rheumatic fever
• Chronic rheumatic fever
• more types...»

Broader types of Rheumatic fever:

• Group A Streptococcal Infections
• Rheumatic conditions
• Blood vessel conditions
• Heart conditions
• Bacterial diseases
• Connective tissue conditions
• Systemic conditions
• Conditions involving a pathogen
• Child health conditions
• more types...»

How many people get Rheumatic fever?

Incidence (annual) of Rheumatic fever: 12 per 1000 (NHIS95)
Incidence Rate of Rheumatic fever: approx 1 in 83 or 1.20% or 3.3 million people in USA [about data]

Who gets Rheumatic fever?

Patient Profile for Rheumatic fever: Mostly children and teens; typically children 5-15

How serious is Rheumatic fever?

Complications of Rheumatic fever: see complications of Rheumatic fever
Deaths for Rheumatic fever: 3,767 deaths reported in USA 1999 for acute rheumatic fever and chronic rheumatic conditions (NVSR Sep 2001)

What causes Rheumatic fever?

Causes of Rheumatic fever: see causes of Rheumatic fever
Risk factors for Rheumatic fever: see risk factors for Rheumatic fever

What are the symptoms of Rheumatic fever?

Symptoms of Rheumatic fever: see symptoms of Rheumatic fever

Complications of Rheumatic fever: see complications of Rheumatic fever

Incubation period for Rheumatic fever: 18 days (after exposure such as strep throat)

Duration of Rheumatic fever: 3 months with gradual recovery

Can anyone else get Rheumatic fever?

More information: see contagiousness of Rheumatic fever
Inheritance: see inheritance of Rheumatic fever

Rheumatic fever: Testing

Diagnostic testing: see tests for Rheumatic fever.

Misdiagnosis: see misdiagnosis and Rheumatic fever.

How is it treated?

Treatments for Rheumatic fever: see treatments for Rheumatic fever
Research for Rheumatic fever: see research for Rheumatic fever

Society issues for Rheumatic fever

Hospitalization statistics for Rheumatic fever: The following are statistics from various sources about hospitalizations and Rheumatic fever:

• 0.0002% (27) of hospital consultant episodes were for rheumatic fever without mention of heart involvement in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 78% of hospital consultant episodes for rheumatic fever without mention of heart involvement required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 26% of hospital consultant episodes for rheumatic fever without mention of heart involvement were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 74% of hospital consultant episodes for rheumatic fever without mention of heart involvement were for women in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• 76% of hospital consultant episodes for rheumatic fever without mention of heart involvement required emergency hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
• more statistics...»

Organs Affected by Rheumatic fever:

Organs and body systems related to Rheumatic fever include:

• Joints
• Heart
• Blood vessels

Name and Aliases of Rheumatic fever

Main name of condition: Rheumatic fever

Class of Condition for Rheumatic fever: bacterial

acute rheumatic fever, inflammatory rheumatism, rheumatic arthritis

Acute Rheumatic Fever, Inflammatory Rheumatism, Rheumatic Arthritis
Source - Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Rheumatic fever: Related Conditions

Research the causes of these diseases that are similar to, or related to, Rheumatic fever:

• Acute rheumatic fever
• ARF
• Group A streptococcal infection
• Structural heart disease
• Sore throat
• Scarlet fever
• Streptococcal pharyngitis
• Jones criteria
• Valvular vegetations
• Endocarditis
• Mitral valveregurgitation
• LV dilation
• Congestive heart failure

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