What are the most effective antibiotics for rheumatic fever?

by rj
(Phils)

Antibiotics For Rheumatic Fever

I was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease January 2010 (with heart murmur; never experienced joint pains that time. The doctor said it was from my childhood).

One year after, Feb. 10, 2011 I got a sore throat or strep maybe, thinking to pre-empt rheumatic fever, 5 days from my sore throat I took Cephalexin 500mg 3x/day (for 7 days).

After 3 weeks I got symptoms like joint pains, muscle movement, and slight fever inside. I took Amoxil 500mg 3x/day for 12 days straight. Two days after that the symptoms came back, then I took again Amoxil 500mg 3x/day from march 9 to April 7. After 3 weeks I was OK, then 3 days after the symptoms keep coming back. What medication should I take?

Answer: Antibiotics For Rheumatic Fever

I really don’t think you should be taking antibiotics like this. It should be supervised by a doctor and I will outline the reasons why. First, your valvular heart disease increases your risk of bacterial endocarditis. This is when the heart valve itself becomes infected and is a potentially very serious condition. It can become life threatening and makes diagnosis and treatment more difficult if you have taken just a few days of antibiotics. The reason for this is the infection becomes suppressed a bit and whilst you might feel better for a while, the infection is still there and getting worse in the background. Trying to diagnose which infection you have is more difficult as your doctor would want to culture your blood samples and this can often be falsely negative in this situation.

Secondly, taking courses of antibiotics can result in antibiotic resistance which is not good news. A lot of infections that cause sore throat, joint pains and fever are viral in nature, so antibiotics won’t be effective anyway. I would always advise seeking advice about antibiotic treatment and any other treatment with your rheumatic heart disease.




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