Acute rheumatic fever

A funny thing has happened on our way to the elimination of rheumatic fever from the United States. It is quite clear that, at least in some areas, rheumatic fever has made a dramatic resurgence. Although all the factors accounting for this are not clearly understood, there are several obvious conclusions that must be drawn: 1. Rheumatic fever is no longer the province of the poor and overcrowded. 2. Clinical manifestations, as embodied in the Jones criteria, may have changed somewhat over the years. 3. New insights into the genetics and immunology of rheumatic fever may lead to a vaccine and/or effective therapy in the future. 4. Rheumatic fever will continue to occur unless and until we resume an aggressive approach to the treatment and prophylaxis of pharyngitis, probably utilizing benzathine penicillin as our primary drug.