Rheumatic Heart Disease occurs when the heart and heart valves are permanently damaged from Rheumatic Fever. Heart valves ensure that blood is moving in the correct direction through the heart, and if damaged, the valve will not close properly. This results in blood leaking back into the chamber it had come from. Doctors can hear blood leakage in the form of a heart murmur. Over time, the valve can stiffen (stenosis) which causes the gap between the valves to narrow. The heart now has to work even harder to pump blood around the body.

How Rheumatic Fever affects the heart

Symptoms of Rheumatic Heart Disease include:

- fatigue shortness of breath limited exercise tolerance chest pain,

- awareness of a fast fluttering heartbeat (heart palpitations) or chest pain,

- sometimes the doctor or nurse will hear a heart murmur (a sound your heart makes when blood is not flowing properly through the heart),

Some people do not know they have Rheumatic Heart Disaese until it starts to affect their daily life or they experience serious symptoms.

When the inflammation leads to permanent damage of the valves it is called Rheumatic Heart Disease.

It can be diagnosed on a medical examination hearing heart murmurs, using a stethoscope or with an echocardiogram (scan or ultrasound of the heart), which let technicians and doctors find how the heart valves are affected and the heart is pumping.

Depending on the severity of the damage, heart surgery may be required to repair or replace the damaged heart valve. Heart medication may also need to be taken.

Patients could also be given monthly injections of penicillin for 10 years to prevent further Strep A infections and episodes of Rheumatic Fever which could worsen the case of Rheumatic Heart Disease.

Preventing the spread of Strep A and early treatment of Strep A infections will prevent Rheumatic Fever and therefore Rheumatic Heart Disease. If someone already has Rheumatic Fever, we can prevent it from progressing to Rheumatic Heart Disease by catching it early and giving them monthly penicillin injections to prevent further Strep A infections and Rheumatic Fever attacks.

Please see a health professional if you or your child has shortness of breath or chest pains.