Rheumatic fever

Notification class: Class 1 notifiable eventHealth care providers report it immediately on suspicion to the Medical Officer of Health at their parish health department, or to the National Surveillance Unit, within 24 hours of contact.

Case definition

Recurrent inflammatory disease affecting large joints (arthritis), the heart (carditis), the brain (chorea), the skin (erythema marginatum) and subcutaneous tissue (subcutaneous nodules) occurring as sequelae of streptococcal upper respiratory tract infection.

Specimen

Serum for ASTO titres.

Laboratory

National Public Health Lab (Serology Section)

Timeline for investigation

6 weeks

Source: National Surveillance Manual

How it’s monitored

Notified as it occurs and followed up with an investigation report. The weekly bulletin gives confirmed cases for the year to date, beside last year’s.

The figures

The National Surveillance Unit publishes the latest figures every week.

Weekly bulletins

Dashboards

For health professionals

Case definitions

Forms

How to report