Acute rheumatic fever

Acute rheumatic fever: Introduction

Acute rheumatic fever: Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is a complication of a strep throat caused by particular strains of GAS. Although common in developing countries, ARF ... more about Acute rheumatic fever.

Acute rheumatic fever: Bacterial joint infection with risk of heart complications. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Acute rheumatic fever is available below.

Symptoms of Acute rheumatic fever

• Fever
• Appetite loss
• Malaise
• Joint symptoms
  • Arthritis
• more symptoms...»

See full list of 30 symptoms of Acute rheumatic fever

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Acute rheumatic fever:

• High Blood Pressure: Home Testing
  • Home Blood Pressure Hypertension Tests
  • Home Blood Pressure Monitors
  • Home Heart Tests
• Heart Health: Home Testing:
  • Heart Rate Monitors
  • Irregular Heartbeat Detection
  • Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • Home Blood Pressure Testing
  • Home Cholesterol Testing
• Cold & Flu: Home Testing:
  • Home Fever Tests
  • Home Ear Infection Test Kits
  • Home Flu Tests
  • Home Strep A Tests
• more tests...»

Acute rheumatic fever: Complications

Review possible medical complications related to Acute rheumatic fever:

• Carditis (see Heart symptoms)
• Heart inflammation
• Chorea
• Rheumatic heart disease
• Chronic rheumatic heart disease
• Chronic heart disease (see Heart symptoms)
• more complications...»

Medical Textbooks Online about Acute rheumatic fever

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Wrongly Diagnosed with Acute rheumatic fever?

• Misdiagnosis of Acute rheumatic fever
• Failure to diagnose Acute rheumatic fever
• Hidden causes of Acute rheumatic fever (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Undiagnosed: Acute rheumatic fever

Acute rheumatic fever: Self Assessment Tools

• Stroke -- Self Assessment Tools
• Heart Attack -- Self Assessment Tools
• Stress -- Self Assessment Tools
• Smoking -- Self Assessment Tools
• Weight Management -- Self Assessment Tools
• Heart Disease -- Self Assessment Tools
• more tools...»

Acute rheumatic fever: Medical Mistakes

• Hypertension -- Health Mistakes
• Cholesterol -- Health Mistakes
• Obesity -- Health Mistakes
• Diabetes -- Health Mistakes
• Metabolic Syndrome -- Health Mistakes
• Asthma -- Health Mistakes
• Allergies -- Health Mistakes
• more mistakes...»

Acute rheumatic fever: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers

Products, offers and promotion categories available for Acute rheumatic fever:

• Dieting & Weight management: products & offers »
• Heart health products & offers »
• High cholesterol
• more product offers...»

Acute rheumatic fever: Undiagnosed Conditions

Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:

• Chronic Major Diseases that are commonly Undiagnosed:
  • High Cholesterol -- Undiagnosed
  • Heart Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Cancer -- Undiagnosed
  • Depression -- Undiagnosed
  • Type 2 Diabetes -- Undiagnosed
  • Type 1 Diabetes -- Undiagnosed
  • Hypertension -- Undiagnosed
  • Hemochromatosis -- Undiagnosed
  • Metabolic Syndrome -- Undiagnosed
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

Misdiagnosis and Acute rheumatic fever

Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss, there are varying degrees of severity. It is altogether too common for people...read more »

Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also many cases where people fear that they have a heart attack, but actually have something milder....read more »

Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations and rapid heartbeat. In rare cases, this undiagnosed condition can be fatal. It should...read more »

Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed, leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed. People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack, whereas there are various less...read more »

Sinusitis is overdiagnosed: There is a tendency to give a diagnosis of sinusitis, when the condition is really a harmless complication of another...read more »

Whooping cough often undiagnosed: Although most children in the Western world have been immunized against whooping cough (also called "pertussis"), this protection wears off after...read more »

Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test blood pressure. The "cuff" around...read more »

Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its misdiagnosis is even more likely in children. Some of the symptoms of...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Acute rheumatic fever

Acute rheumatic fever: Research Doctors & Specialists

Research related physicians and medical specialists:

• Cholesterol Specialists:
  • Clinical Lipidology (Cholesterol/Triglycerides)
  • Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism
• Cardiac (Heart) Specialists:
  • Cardiology (Heart specialists)
  • Pediatric Cardiology (Child Heart Specialists)
  • Cardiothoracic Surgery
  • Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
  • Interventional Cardiology
• Ear, Nose & Throat Specialists:
  • Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose & Throat)
  • Pediatric Otolaryngology (Child Ear, Nose & Throat Specialist)
  • Otology / Neurotology (Ear/Hearing Specialists)
  • Plastic Surgery within the Head & Neck
• more specialists...»

Other doctor, physician and specialist research services:

• Rate Your Doctor Online
• Research Your Doctor Online
• Review Patient Surveys About Your Doctor
• Research local specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

Hospitals & Clinics: Acute rheumatic fever

Research quality ratings and patient safety measures for medical facilities in specialties related to Acute rheumatic fever:

• Heart Health (Cardiac Care) -- Hospital Quality Ratings
• more hospital ratings...»

Hospital & Clinic quality ratings » »

Choosing the Best Hospital: More general information, not necessarily in relation to Acute rheumatic fever, on hospital performance and surgical care quality:

• 50 Best Hospitals Report
• Outstanding Patient Experinece Award Winning Hospitals
• Women's Health Best Hospitals
• Patient Safety
• Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence Study (2009)

Acute rheumatic fever: Rare Types

Rare types of diseases and disorders in related medical categories:

• Chronic Major Diseases -- Rare Types:
  • High Cholesterol -- Rare Types
  • Heart Disease -- Rare Types
  • Cancer -- Rare Types
  • Depression -- Rare Types
  • Type 2 Diabetes -- Rare Types
  • Type 1 Diabetes -- Rare Types
  • Hypertension -- Rare Types
  • Hemochromatosis -- Rare Types
  • Metabolic Syndrome -- Rare Types
• more rare diseases...»

Causes of Acute rheumatic fever

• Streptococcus
• Streptococcal infections
• Group A streptococcus
• Strep throat
• Scarlet fever
• more causes...»

Read more about causes of Acute rheumatic fever

More information about causes of Acute rheumatic fever:

• Underlying causes of Acute rheumatic fever
• Acute rheumatic fever as a complication caused by other conditions

Treatments for Acute rheumatic fever

• Bed rest
• Antibiotics
• Penicillin
• Pain relief
• Anti-inflammatory drugs
• more treatments...»

See full list of 11 treatments for Acute rheumatic fever

Evidence Based Medicine Research for Acute rheumatic fever

Medical research articles related to Acute rheumatic fever include:

• Short versus standard duration antibiotic therapy for acute streptococcal pharyngitis in children
• Once-daily amoxicillin versus twice-daily penicillin V in group A beta-haemolytic streptococcal pharyngitis
• Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Pharyngitis
• A 43 year old with a pmh of rheumatic fever with cardiac involvement (he develped a murmur and was on penicillin prophylaxis until age 21). When he develops acute pharyngitis does he require penicillin prophylaxis?
• Prevention of infective endocarditis: guidelines from the American Heart Association.
• more research...»

Click here to find more evidence-based articles on the TRIP Database

Videos for Acute rheumatic fever

Patient Surveys for Acute rheumatic fever

• Patient Profile Survey
  Take Survey  View Results
• Survey about the symptoms of your Acute rheumatic fever
  Take Survey  View Results

Prognosis for Acute rheumatic fever

More about prognosis of Acute rheumatic fever

Reseach about Acute rheumatic fever

Visit our research pages for current research about Acute rheumatic fever treatments.

Statistics for Acute rheumatic fever

• Medical statistics for Acute rheumatic fever
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Acute rheumatic fever
• Death and Mortality statistics for Acute rheumatic fever
• Society statistics for Acute rheumatic fever

Acute rheumatic fever: Broader Related Topics

• Rheumatic conditions
• Heart conditions
• Rheumatic fever
• Acute infections
• more types...»

Types of Acute rheumatic fever

Stories from Users Related to Acute rheumatic fever

• Rheumatic Fever Questions..
• Rheumatic Fever
• Rheumatic Fever Diagnosis in 3 year old
• Acute Rheumatic Fever as Child & Adult symptoms
• rheumatic fever w/out strep

Related forums and medical stories:

• Heart Conditions (91)
  • Wolff-Parkinson-White
  • heart skips
  • Wpw
  • calf aches
  • Endocarditis from Cellulitis
  • More user stories

User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Acute rheumatic fever, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Article Excerpts about Acute rheumatic fever

Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is a complication of a strep throat caused by particular strains of GAS. Although common in developing countries, ARF is rare in the United States, with small isolated outbreaks reported only occasionally. It is most common among children between 5-15 years of age. A family history of ARF may predispose an individual to the disease. Symptoms typically occur 18 days after an untreated strep throat. An acute attack lasts approximately 3 months. The most common clinical finding is a migratory arthritis involving multiple joints. The most serious complication is carditis, or heart inflammation (rheumatic heart disease), as this may lead to chronic heart disease and disability or death years after an attack. Less common findings include bumps or nodules under the skin (usually over the spine or other bony areas) and a red expanding rash on the trunk and extremities that recurs over weeks to months. Because of the different ways ARF presents itself, the disease may be difficult to diagnose. A neurological disorder, chorea, can occur months after an initial attack, causing jerky involuntary movements, muscle weakness, slurred speech, and personality changes. Initial episodes of ARF as well as recurrences can be prevented by treatment with appropriate antibiotics. (Source: excerpt from Group A Streptococcal Infections, NIAID Fact Sheet: NIAID)

Definitions of Acute rheumatic fever:

A clinical syndrome characterized by a sudden decrease in glomerular filtration rate, often to values of less than 1 to 2 ml per minute. It is usually associated with oliguria (urine volumes of less than 400 ml per day) and is always associated with biochemical consequences of the reduction in glomerular filtration rate such as a rise in blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine concentrations. - (Source - Diseases Database)

Acute 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 Acute rheumatic fever, or a subtype of Acute rheumatic fever, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)