What are the symptoms of rheumatic fever and rheumatism

Rheumatism is a type of disease that many of our friends are prone to in today's social life, and this type of disease causes headaches for many patients and their families. Rheumatic fever causes patients to feel very painful and seriously affects their daily life and health. So what are the symptoms of rheumatic fever? Let’s take a brief look at it below!

1. General manifestations

Fever, malaise, fatigue, poor appetite, pale complexion, sweating and abdominal pain, etc. Some patients may also suffer from pleurisy and pneumonia.

2. Carditis

The most characteristic manifestation of acute rheumatic fever is carditis, which is the only persistent organ damage. During the first attack, the myocardium, endocardium and pericardium may all be affected, with myocarditis and endocarditis being the most common. Pancarditis may also occur with an incidence of 40% to 50%. Symptoms usually appear within 1 to 2 weeks of onset.

3. Arthritis

It occurs in 75% of children with the first attack and affects large joints, most commonly the knees, ankles, elbows, and wrists. It manifests as redness, swelling, heat, pain, and limited mobility. It may affect several joints at the same time or move from one joint to another. The arthritis eventually subsides without leaving any deformity.

4. Chorea

Also known as Sydenham chorea, it is characterized by purposeless, involuntary, rapid movements of the whole body or parts of the muscles, such as sticking out the tongue, twisting the mouth, squinting, shrugging the shoulders and shrinking the neck, speech disorders, dysgraphia, incoordination of fine movements, which worsen when excited or concentrating and disappear after falling asleep, accompanied by muscle weakness and emotional instability. It accounts for 10% of children with rheumatic fever and often appears several months after other symptoms. If the rheumatic fever attack is mild, chorea may be the first symptom. The course of the disease is about 3 months.

Through the introduction above, I believe that friends should have had some detailed understanding of the symptoms of rheumatic fever and rheumatism, and the symptoms of this type of disease are not easy for patients to detect, so once such a phenomenon occurs, it should be treated in time. If it is not treated in time, it will easily lead to worsening of the disease!