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Acute Rheumatic Fever

licks the joints, but bites the heart

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Introduction to Clinical Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Although cases of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) have become quite uncommon in North America and Europe, the illness persists as a significant problem globally, remaining a prominent cause of cardiac disease. Rheumatic heart disease is one of the well- recognized noninfectious complications of group A streptococcal pharyngitis. Prompt diagnosis of and treatment for streptococcal pharyngitis prevents ARF. Circumstances that result in missed diagnoses or lack of antibiotic therapy place patients at risk for developing the illness. The signs, symptoms, and laboratory test results included in the diagnostic criteria for ARF, known as the modified Jones criteria, overlap with several other diseases, so it is important to maintain a high index of suspicion for the disease and to include it in the differential diagnosis when appropriate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Upstate University Hospital, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Ambika Eranki

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  1. Ambika Eranki
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Correspondence to Ambika Eranki .

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  1. SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Joseph Domachowske

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Eranki, A. (2019). Acute Rheumatic Fever. In: Domachowske, J. (eds) Introduction to Clinical Infectious Diseases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91080-2_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91080-2_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91079-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91080-2

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