To prevent children from experiencing rheumatic heart disease, the first step that the parents need to take would be to get their children treated when the encounter any symptoms of a strep throat. When the child is diagnosed with a strep throat, immediate treatment must follow to ensure that it does not lead to anything serious that causes rheumatic heart disease.
The main cause of rheumatic heart disease is rheumatic fever that causes the inflammation of the connective tissues of the body. Such an inflammation can be the reason behind permanent damage of the heart for which surgery is the only option to protect the heart.
Rheumatic fever is experienced when the strep throat is not treated at the right time. There is no necessity that rheumatic fever always causes rheumatic heart disease, however, it is always better to prevent it by treating the strep throat immediately.
The Different Treatment Alternatives
The tissues that become inflamed with rheumatic fever are the brain, heart, skin, as well as joints, each being very painful. Rheumatic heart disease will not be evident right after the fever as there will be only certain parts that are only scarred showing minimal leakage. Such leaks are caused because the mechanism of the opening and closing of the valves is affected causing poor circulation of blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
Sometimes the rheumatic fever is very severe that surgery would become the only option to rectify the valves. Mostly, surgery would be sufficient to treat the issue. However, there are some exceptions where an artificial valve will have to be placed to ensure normal functioning of the heart.
In more severe cases, severe rheumatic heart disease is caused due to rheumatic fever that results in heart enlargement. In such cases the blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body becomes very difficult. In such a case, the heart becomes enlarged that results in heart failure that requires the whole heart to be replaced.
A person who has experienced rheumatic fever is at a very high risk of experiencing it again, which is why the lifelong usage of antibiotics comes into existence. In these cases, the person may not be eligible for a heart replacement as this might end causing more severe problems through the recurrence of the fever.