Listen up: I had a couple possible cases of Rheumatic Fever this week in the office. The internet made it much easier to make the possible diagnosis. It’s a complex illness and you need one major criteria and two minor. Both cases had these and a probable history for strep throat. They were told it was a viral syndrome which it does not appear to be, streptococcus is a bacteria and the docs did not want to treat with an antibiotic because they thought viral. If you have mysterious severe aches and pains in joints which may move around and a history possible for strep throat bring this possibility up to your doctor. It’s a tricky diagnosis because the symptoms can occur weeks after the strep infection. If I have two possible cases in one week in my small office then there’s got to be a lot more of it out there.
Beatrice Howard-Gabel
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