Rheumatic heart disease is the most complicated and feared consequence of rheumatic fever. So, it is important to know about rheumatic fever before trying to understand rheumatic heart disease. Rheumatic fever is borne out of streptococcal infection of the throat; a common bacterial infection caused by Group A Streptococcus bacteria.

This type of fever usually attacks children and also adults below the age of 50, residing in developing countries. Rheumatic heart disease is caused when the heart begins to get inflamed due to the rheumatic fever. The disease has no separate symptoms. There are many symptoms of the rheumatic fever though which if identified at the right time may put a stop to rheumatic heart disease also.

Various signs and symptoms of rheumatic fever begin to show two or three weeks after being attacked by streptococcal infection in the throat. These symptoms include fever, pain in the joints, swelling in different parts of the body, chest pain, heart palpitations, development of rashes on skin, feeling weak and fatigue, and shortness of breath among others. If the victim seeks medical help immediately, the fever can be controlled and hence, the complication of rheumatic heart disease can be prevented altogether. For preventing rheumatic fever, the throat infection or strep pharyngitis should not be allowed to develop itself. For that, benzyl penicillin or some other trusted antibiotics should be used.

Moreover, if a person is attacked by rheumatic fever once, he automatically becomes more susceptible to heart diseases and attacks in the future. Thus continuous and routine dosage of antibiotics should be given to the patient to avoid such complications.

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