Insidious rheumatic carditis and athletic activities

Abstract

One is often unable to elicit any past history of definite acute rheumatic fever, or one suggesting streptococcal infection, from a patient with established rheumatic valvular heart disease. This failure to elicit a positive past history may be attributed, understandably, to the inherent defects of retrospective analysis and the fallibility of human memory. It is not sufficiently appreciated in general· medical circles that acute rheumatic carditis may be present not only with little or no symptoms, but moreover in the presence of full physical activity and apparent good health. Though the insidiousness of acute rheumatic carditis in children is well documented, its co-existence with no impairment of athletic activities in a young adult does not appear to have been described before.