rheumatic fever
noun
: an acute disease that occurs chiefly in children and adolescents following inadequately treated Group A streptococcal infection of the upper respiratory tract (such as in strep throat) and is characterized by fever, by inflammation and pain in and around the joints, and by inflammatory involvement of the pericardium and heart valves
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Sitting with his wife, Mimi, playing gin rummy at a table outside Gate H, Strickland said rheumatic fever kept him away from ballparks as a child. 
John Wilkens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Apr. 2022 During one of those tours, Jeff came down with rheumatic fever, which went untreated for several weeks. Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 21 Feb. 2022 The organization cared for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and, at the Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum, Sudan, children whose hearts were damaged by rheumatic fever. Washington Post, 27 Aug. 2021 At 13, he was stricken with rheumatic fever and spent his days monitoring radio accounts of World War II. Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2021 Timothy Irwin Means was diagnosed with rheumatic fever as a child. San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Aug. 2021 While those symptoms generally resolve within another few weeks’ time, approximately half of all rheumatic fever patients also experience carditis — inflammation that can affect any area of the heart, potentially resulting in permanent damage. Quanta Magazine, 1 July 2021 Bedridden for a year with rheumatic fever during the second grade, Keith Wilcock spent hours upon hours drawing scenes of planes crashing. Madison Karas, Star Tribune, 13 July 2021 An untreated infection may lead first to a condition called acute rheumatic fever, which typically presents with fever and arthritis weeks after the initial infection. Quanta Magazine, 1 July 2021 See More
John Wilkens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Apr. 2022 During one of those tours, Jeff came down with rheumatic fever, which went untreated for several weeks. Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 21 Feb. 2022 The organization cared for Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and, at the Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum, Sudan, children whose hearts were damaged by rheumatic fever. Washington Post, 27 Aug. 2021 At 13, he was stricken with rheumatic fever and spent his days monitoring radio accounts of World War II. Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2021 Timothy Irwin Means was diagnosed with rheumatic fever as a child. San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Aug. 2021 While those symptoms generally resolve within another few weeks’ time, approximately half of all rheumatic fever patients also experience carditis — inflammation that can affect any area of the heart, potentially resulting in permanent damage. Quanta Magazine, 1 July 2021 Bedridden for a year with rheumatic fever during the second grade, Keith Wilcock spent hours upon hours drawing scenes of planes crashing. Madison Karas, Star Tribune, 13 July 2021 An untreated infection may lead first to a condition called acute rheumatic fever, which typically presents with fever and arthritis weeks after the initial infection. Quanta Magazine, 1 July 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1726, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
rheumatic fever
noun
rheu·mat·ic fever
ru̇-ˈma-tik-
: a serious disease especially of children that causes fever, pain and swelling of joints, and sometimes heart damage
Medical Definition
rheumatic fever
noun
: an acute often recurrent disease that occurs chiefly in children and adolescents following Group A streptococcal infection of the upper respiratory tract (as in strep throat) and is characterized by fever, inflammation, pain, and swelling in and around the joints, inflammatory involvement of the pericardium and valves of the heart, and often the formation of small nodules chiefly in the subcutaneous tissues and the heart