Some 50 years ago, rheumatic fever was one of the main childhood diseases in North America and Europe that damaged heart valves of many people. These damages exhibit themselves in many elderly people as mitral stenosis, a most commonly observed heart valve disorder. But, nowadays rheumatic fever is a very rare condition in developed countries due to the use of effective antibiotics. Apart from that, standards of living have also increased with an opportunity for better housing and nutrition. Still, a few occurrences have been reported in the US in recent times but none were reported in the UK. Even though this is the situation in developed countries, rheumatic fever still affects numerous people in developing countries.Rheumatic fever is a painful illness and it usually occurs after an untreated streptococcal throat infection, which is also known as strep throat. Strep throat afflicts the tissues at the back of the throat and tonsils leading to a severe sore throat. When a patient has a strep throat infection, he/she may end up developing white spots on his/her tongue and / or at the back of his/her inflamed throat. The patient might also experience abdominal pain, and headaches besides having a fever and finding it difficult to swallow.It is a disease of children/ adults and is characterized by fever and painful swelling of the joints, most of the limbs, especially of the ankles and knees. The notable feature of the painful swelling of the joints is that it is fleeting in nature i.e. the swelling of the joints travels from one joint to another. Simultaneously, in the acute stage, the heart may also be involved.Hence, early diagnosis or suspicion of the disease is necessary for proper treatment, especially to save the heart from damage. Hence, the warning signal of RF is that whenever fleeting pain/ swelling occurs in the joints, the physician must be consulted for a precise diagnosis. This signal should be recognized by parents/teachers especially, and adults should know about such diseases as a matter of routine.A number of joints may be involved at one stage, and the other joints may also' be involved before swelling/pain in the earlier involved joints disappear. The swelling in the affected joints starts regressing' in about a week, and the joints may become normal in 3-4 weeks time.The most important point is that the disease may be self-limited i.e. it may subside without any treatment. If such attacks continue to occur, although the joints heal completely during each attack, the most vital organ of the body i.e. the heart, maybe damaged permanently.