Rheumatic Fever

Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory condition involving the heart, joints, skin, and brain that emerges following group A streptococcal infection. The use of appropriate diagnostic criteria for RF is crucial to not underdiagnose this frequent condition that carries the risk of significant long-term morbidity. The most frequent and severe manifestation of RF is carditis. Echocardiography detects subclinical carditis in many patients lacking any clinical presentation, up to 10 times more than cases having clinical evidence of disease. This chapter emphasizes the significance of the Jones criteria, revised over the years, in diagnosing RF, especially in high-risk populations, and the benefit of echocardiography.