Does Strep infection always cause Rheumatic Fever?
No, only about 3% (three out of 100 patients) of those with acute Strep Pharyngitis that have NOT been treated at all lead to the complication of Rheumatic Fever. Strep throat could lead to Rheumatic fever, but Streptococcus infection of the skin or other organs outside of the throat will not cause Rheumatic fever. Three percent may not sound high, but this incidence is way too high for medical and health comfort. How does Rheumatic Fever cause valve diseases? With the generalized inflammation that takes place in those organs mentioned above, especially the heart, the inflammed valves become scarred, shrunken, and form Page Three Heart Valve Disease hard calcium deposits in the valves, making the leaflets hard like rocks. As a result, the valve leaflets lose their flexibility and normal apposition, causing them not to open well, making it harder for the heart to pump the blood across this tight valve (stensosis). The other form of damage is the opposite, the valve becomes flimsy becaus
