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Rheumatic Fever
(Acute Rheumatic Fever or ARF)

Medical Author: David Perlstein, MD, FAAP
Medical Editor: Charles Davis, MD, PhD

What is rheumatic fever?

Rheumatic fever (acute rheumatic fever or ARF) is an autoimmune disease that may occur after a group A streptococcal throat infection that causes inflammatory lesions in connective tissue, especially that of the heart, joints, blood vessels, and subcutaneous tissue. The disease has been described since the 1500s, but the association between a throat infection and rheumatic fever symptom development was not described until the 1880s. It was associated with scarlet fever (rash caused by streptococcal exotoxins) in the 1900s. Prior to the broad availability of penicillin, rheumatic fever was a leading cause of death in children and one of the leading causes of acquired heart disease in adults. The disease has many symptoms and can affect different parts of the body, including the heart, joints, skin, and brain. There is no simple diagnostic test for rheumatic fever, so the American Heart Association's modified Jones criteria (first published in 1944 and listed below) are used to assist the physician in making the proper diagnosis.

What are the Jones criteria?

Jones criteria are guidelines decided on by the American Heart Association to help doctors clinically diagnose rheumatic fever. Two major criteria or one major and two minor plus a history of a streptococcal throat infection are required to make the diagnosis of rheumatic fever.

The major criteria for diagnosis include

  • arthritis in several joints (polyarthritis),


  • heart inflammation (carditis),


  • nodules under the skin (subcutaneous nodules or Aschoff bodies),


  • rapid, jerky movements (Sydenham's chorea), and


  • skin rash (erythema marginatum).

The minor criteria include



Next: What causes rheumatic fever? »

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Rheumatic Fever

Overview of streptococcal infections

Group A streptococcal (strep) infections are caused by group A streptococcus, a bacterium responsible for a variety of health problems. These infections can range from a mild skin infection or sore throat to severe, life-threatening conditions such as toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing fasciitis, commonly known as flesh eating disease. Most people are familiar with strep throat, which along with minor skin infection, is the most common form of the disease. Health experts estimate that more than 10 million mild infections (throat and skin) like these occur every year.

In addition to step throat and superficial skin infections, group A strep bacteria can cause infections in tissues (group of cells joined together to perform the same function) at specific body sites, including lungs, bones, spinal cord, and abdomen.

Strep throat

Symptoms of strep throat...

Read the Streptococcal Infections article »










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