CURRENT STATUS OF RHEUMATIC FEVER

摘要

Rheumatic fever (RF) is considered to be an autoimmune disease that is a delayed response to pharyngeal infection by Beta-hemolytic Group A streptococcus (GSA). One of the severe complications is carditis. A significant decline in the incidence of RF has been observed since the 1960s, so that in the early 80s some of the experts in developed countries declared that this disease was vanishing. Unfortunately, in the mid 1980s, resurgence