Resurgence of rheumatic fever in the United States

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After declining in incidence for many years, rheumatic fever recently had an unexpected resurgence at several locations in the United States. If you saw a case, would you recognize it? As Dr Ayoub points out, the disease had become so rare that many physicians had almost forgotten about it. In this article, he describes the recent outbreaks of rheumatic fever and their implications for care of patients with streptococcal pharyngitis.