The form circle of rheumatic inflammatory systemic diseases includes a number of diseases, whose etiology is mostly unknown. Due to the fact that specific antibodies are often found, diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are considered autoimmune diseases. Therefore, the diagnosis of antibodies plays a significant role in the diagnosis of rheumatic diseases. The following article features two d...

Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that may develop after an infection with group A 1, 2 Streptococcus bacteria. The disease can affect the heart, joints, skin and brain. Complications of rheumatic fever are arrhythmias, damage to the heart valves, endocarditis, heart failure, pericarditis and 3 Sydenham's chorea. The most important way to prevent rheumatic fever is by getting quick tre...

Molecular mimicry is a hallmark of the pathogenesis of rheumatic fever where the streptococcal group A carbohydrate epitope, N-acetyl glucosamine, and the a-helical coiled-coil streptococcal M protein structurally mimic cardiac myosin in the human disease, rheumatic carditis, and in animal models immunized with streptococcal M protein and cardiac myosin. Recent studies have unraveled the potent...

BACKGROUND Pediatric rheumatic diseases are chronic illnesses that can cause considerable disease burden to children and their families. There is limited epidemiologic data on these diseases in East Africa. The aim of this study was to assess the spectrum of pediatric rheumatic diagnoses in an in-patient setting and determine the accuracy of ICD-10 codes in identifying these conditions. METHO...

Background Carditis and rheumatic chronic heart disease are the most serious complications of Acute Rheumatic Fever. Nowadays prevention of recurrent episodes of group A b-hemolytic streptococcal pharyngitis is the most effective method to prevent the development of severe rheumatic heart disease. However the evidence of these guidelines are weak and result from studies conducted more than 50 y...

The possible diagnostic value of an enlarged left atrial appendage (LAA) on the posterior-anterior or right anterior oblique chest film as a means of implicating a rheumatic etiology for mitral valve disease in children was investigated. Chest films were examined without prior knowledge of clinical or laboratory data, and the results were later correlated with this information in 113 children a...

To cite: Steger CM. BMJ Case Rep Published online: [please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/bcr-2015211943 DESCRIPTION A 65-year-old man with a medical history of rheumatic fever in childhood reported thoracic pain while at work and collapsed. He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital due to ventricular fibrillation. After the few episodes of rheumatic fever with subsequent pancarditis...

A diagnosis of rheumatic fever conjures in the minds of most physicians a serious disease demanding prolonged rest in bed, suggesting the likelihood of cardiac damage, and producing subsequent invalidism to a varying degree. Copeman (1944) described 42 cases of febrile polyarthritis of acute onset which he states were " non-epidemic, of short duration, and probably not uncommon." None of his ca...