Heart Damaging Rheumatic Fever

In children with common cold, throat pain, severe temperature!

Let’s assume children are suffering from high fever along with throat pain following a common cold, do you feel surprised if I say, it should not be taken lightly as ‘Oh! it is nothing more than a common cold, just throat pain’? But it is a fact. It should not be perceived as a simple issue when children suffer from throat pain, common cold and high fever. There is a reason for this. When symptoms like cold, throat pain appear, firstly there is a chance of it leading to tonsillitis causing infection to tonsils. If this occurs in some people because of a bacteria named Group-A streptococcus, it should be treated with a full course of antibiotic treatment. If not done so, there is a chance for a risk of it leading to a problem called rheumatic fever within one to five weeks of manifestation of this problem.

Symptoms

After the common cold and throat pain, severe fever subside, there would be a re-occurrence of fever within one to five weeks. It should be suspected as rheumatic fever if there are symptoms such as joint pains, joint swelling, abnormal movement of limbs and rashes all over the body. Moreover, shortness of breath, Severe fatigue, weakness, debility are the prime symptoms seen in these children.

However, many people view this common cold, throat pain, fevers which initially manifest in children as a simple problem. There is no scope for them even to know that there is a risk that it may lead to rheumatic fever. So, if there is a fever and it is cured and there is a fever again within one to five weeks then parents should be a bit cautious. Children between the age group of 5-15 years are more prone to rheumatic fever.

Treatment/Prevention

In fact, if it is treated in the initial stage itself so that it is totally cured, the problem will get fully resolved with just a course of antibiotics.

But if the treatment is not on time or is incomplete, it may lead to chronic heart problems. That is why, it should not be considered a trivial issue if children have high fever with common cold and throat pain. It is better to consult a pediatrician once. It should be kept in mind that such a huge problem can be prevented just with a full (complete) course of antibiotics as well as with physical/ personal hygiene.