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Introduction
Rheumatic Fever
Rheumatic fever is associated with strep throat or scarlet fever caused by a Streptococcus
bacterial infection of the throat. This disease can be contracted everyone, but mostly it affects
children and young adults. The disease causes permanent heart damage and consecutive heart
failure. Its treatment reduces pain and suffering resulting from inflammation and also
prevents its recurrence. Infection with the Streptococcus bacterium creates an antibody that
acts against tissues of the heart, joints, skin and the central nervous system as this bacterium
has proteins similar to these body tissues. It is best addressed by early treatment using
antibiotics to act on the bacteria to reduce the chances of rheumatic fever. However, there are
some predisposing factors to the disease that include; genetic makeup, kind of strep bacteria
and the environment. An individual living in overcrowded areas with poor sanitation risk
exposure to the bacteria as it thrives and transmits the disease faster in this kind of
environment (Gewitz, 1810).
Inflammation, however, can be short-term or long-term ranging from weeks, months to a
lifetime. Rheumatic heart disease becomes prevalent 10 to 20 years after contracting the
primary disease. This heart disease is associated with valve stenosis, valve regurgitation, and
destruction of the entire heart muscle; this further result in atrial fibrillation and heart failure.
Use of appropriate antibiotics to treat the strep bacterium infection is the only means to
prevent rheumatic fever. Signs and symptoms for rheumatic fever are the actual fever, pain
