Rheumatic heart disease means your heart valves have been damaged as the result of rheumatic fever, a complication of strep throat, aka strep pharyngitis. Strep throat is caused by group A streptococci, which is a contagious bacterial infection.
Rheumatic fever is not an infection but an autoimmune and inflammatory health impairment wherein your own immune system attacks your collagen. Since heart valves are rich in collagen, this immune response is what causes damage to your heart’s valves. Heart valve damage caused by rheumatic fever is what’s referred to as rheumatic heart disease.
In addition, heart inflammation via rheumatic fever may also cause:
Rheumatic fever is mainly a childhood disease and is a rare health condition in most developed countries. Yet, it continues to cause cardiovascular deaths in developing areas.
Rheumatic heart disease is a life long health condition and the leading cause of mitral valve stenosis. The primary way to preclude rheumatic heart disease from developing is appropriate antibiotic treatment of strep or rheumatic fever. As such, it’s important to be aware of the symptoms for both.
Symptoms of strep throat include:
- high fever
- headache
- swallowing pain
- sudden sore throat
- red throat & tonsils
Sore throats are predominantly caused by virus infections, but whenever in doubt have it checked out.
Symptoms of rheumatic fever usually don’t appear until a couple of weeks after strep throat symptoms subside. Some of the common symptoms of rheumatic fever are:
Heart valve damage may not develop for years after your rheumatic fever episode. And once you’ve had rheumatic fever you remain susceptible to it recurring. And any recurrence can cause further rheumatic heart disease heart valve damage.