The Pathogenesis of Rheumatic Fever

It is evident that there are two distinct types of response on the part of the body to the infectious agent of rheumatic fever; viz., proliferative and exudative. The perivascular proliferative type of lesion, resembling an infectious granuloma, explains the subacute and chronic character of the clinical symptoms in many patients with this disease. Marked exudation of serum into the periarticular tissues and of serum and cells into the joint cavities are concomitants of the acute arthritis occurring with high fever and general intoxication; these acute exudations disappear following the administration of certain drugs. But their disappearance does not mean necessarily that all lesions of the proliferative type have resolved. In fact, we know that these last mentioned lesions, when present in the subcutaneous tissues, often continue for months; and from analogy we may conclude that they have a similar persistent character in other tissues of the body invaded by the causative agent of rheumatic fever.