Diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever

An accurate diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever is important, as:

• overdiagnosis will result in the individual receiving treatment unnecessarily
• underdiagnosis may lead to further episodes of ARF, cardiac damage and the need for heart valve surgery and/or premature death.

Currently, there is no diagnostic laboratory test for acute rheumatic fever, so diagnosis remains a clinical decision based on the identification of major and minor manifestations of the illness.