Main Entry: rheumatic fever

Function: noun

: an acute often recurrent disease that occurs chiefly in children and young adults following Group A streptococcal infection of the upper respiratory tract (as in strep throat) and is characterized by fever, inflammation, pain, and swelling in and around the joints, inflammatory involvement of the pericardium and valves of the heart, and often the formation of small nodules chiefly in the subcutaneous tissues and the heart