Rheumatic fever (RF) used to be a fairly common disease among children in developed countries until about the middle of the 20th century. It was a major cause of death in children until 1960 and a common cause of chronic structural heart disease in developed countries. In developing countries it still remains a major cause of death and heart disease.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original article at https://patient.info/doctor/rheumatic-fever-pro