Rheumatic Fever
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Rheumatic Fever
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disorder caused by a bacterium known as Group A Streptococcus. The fever is can likely cause the bodies to attack their own tissues leading to widespread inflammation. Patients with undiagnosed rheumatic fever can have distributed persistent obliterating arteritis in the small blood vessels present in the brain membrane (CDC, 2018). Rheumatic fever causes rheumatic heart disease (carditis), which is a condition involving permanent damage of heart valves due to an immune response that leads to an inflammatory condition (Zühlke et al., 2017). The condition is likely to start after a patient is not treated for a streptococcal infection like strep throat. Rheumatic fever causes a red and blotchy skin rash. Some painless lumps or nodules might appear under the skin, especially near the joints. The condition causes painful tender joints. It commonly occurs in the knees, wrists, ankles, and elbows.
Patients who might have suffered from rheumatic fever are likely to develop the condition again in the future. Patients who had the first bout of rheumatic fever and serious heart problem is required to be monitored regularly and closely by medics with echocardiograms to examine the condition of the heart (Zühlke et al., 2017). Moreover, if a patient had a rheumatic fever that involved the heart, such a person might be on lifelong prophylaxis consisting use of antibiotics for their dental health improvement. Acute rheumatic fever that causes rheumatic heart disease is likely to damage body organs which can lead to irreversible valve damage and eventually cause heart failure (Carapetis et al., 2016). There is no available Group A Streptococcus vaccine. Attempts to develop the vaccine have been in progress since the 1920s (World Heart Federation, 2021). Rheumatic fever can’t cause rheumatoid arthritis, but vice versa can happen. Rheumatoid arthritis can cause rheumatic fever. A person diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and is experiencing a fever under 1010F can be an indication that the fever has been caused by RA (Carey 2020).
References
Carapetis, J. R., Beaton, A., Cunningham, M. W., Guilherme, L., Karthikeyan, G., Mayosi, B. M., … & Zühlke, L. (2016). Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Nature reviews Disease primers, 2(1), 1-24.
Carey E, (2020). Rheumatoid Arthritis Fevers: Why They Occur and What to Do About Them. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://www.healthline.com/health/rheumatoid-arthritis-fevers
CDC, (2018). Rheumatic Fever: All You Need to Know. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/groupastrep/diseases-public/rheumatic-fever.html
World Heart Federation, (2021). Group A Streptococcus vaccine. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://rhdaction.org/prevention/group-streptococcus-vaccine
Zühlke, L. J., Beaton, A., Engel, M. E., Hugo-Hamman, C. T., Karthikeyan, G., Katzenellenbogen, J. M., … & Carapetis, J. (2017). Group A streptococcus, acute rheumatic fever, and rheumatic heart disease: epidemiology and clinical considerations. Current treatment options in cardiovascular medicine, 19(2), 15.