A person who is suffering from rheumatic fever is bound to get the valves of heart affected and this condition is known as rheumatic heart disease.
Reasons for Rheumatic Fever
Majority of the children in the age group of 5 to 15 years will get strep throat and if this situation in left untreated, then the condition will result in Rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever will manifest as painful inflammation of the connective tissues in joints, skin, heart, etc. Almost 50 percent of people who have had rheumatic fever will get their heart’s valves damaged.
However, after the advent of broad-spectrum antibiotics such as penicillin, rheumatic fever made its hasty retreat and the related rheumatic heart disease also seen a decline.
What Exactly is Rheumatic Heart Disease?
Damage caused to the heart’s valves is medically known as Rheumatic heart disease. In your heart there are four valves that control inflow and outflow of blood in heart chambers and these valves also control blood flow in correct direction.
In case of damage to one of these valves, the blood may ooze out or might get reversed in its flow from the intended direction. Depending upon the extent of damage to the valves, the rheumatic heart disease is classified as mild to extremely serious.
In the event of severe damage to the heart’s valves, the heart might find it difficult to pump blood and in the process the heart will lose its efficiency due to poor heart muscle strength and the condition will lead to congestive heart failure.
Congestive heart failure is a condition where one’s heart muscles loses its blood pumping efficiency and the heart will also get enlarged and making it to protrude and exert pressure in adjacent chambers of viscera. In case of severity, even blood can ooze back into lungs causing lung congestion.
Rheumatic heart disease in its mild form may not necessitate any medical intervention at all, but in an extreme case surgery either for replacing or repairing the heart valves will be necessary. When it comes to symptoms of rheumatic heart disease, it will vary depending upon the level of damage to the valves and the symptoms will be like irregular heartbeats, dizziness, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
Persons affected with rheumatic hear disease will also be very susceptible to other inflammatory infections like myocarditis, which is nothing but heart tissue inflammation. In order to prevent the risks of secondary infection or inflammation, persons affected with rheumatic heart disease should take antibiotics on a daily basis. There may be even chances for your doctor or your dentist prescribing additional antibiotics before any general surgery or dental related treatment.
A Prudent Tip
If you have had rheumatic fever when you were a child, then make it a point to tell the fact to your doctor every time. In case of any appointment with your dentist, then make it doubly ensured that you tell your dentist about your rheumatic fever incidence during your childhood. The above precaution will help you in avoiding any unanticipated complications of secondary infection and the treating doctor or dentist can take preventive measures to save you from such infections.
[tags]Antibiotics, Rheumatic Heart Disease, Heart Enlargement[/tags]