Rheumatic fever secondary prevention
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Lance Christiansen, D.O.; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Cafer Zorkun, M.D., Ph.D. [2]
Secondary Prevention
If an individual does not contract a Streptococcus pyogenes infection for a long period, perhaps for five years or longer, an individual's immunological/autoimmunological responsivness will naturally decrease and, perhaps, there will be less chance of developing rheumatic fever if the individual contracts a future Streptococcus pyogenes infection.
Providing prophylactic therapy to individuals who have had rheumatic fever with monthly (or maybe every three weeks) injections of Benzathine Penicillin G, 1,200,000 units, or oral penicillin VK or G, 250mg twice daily (I think 500 mg twice daily is more efficacious), decreases the frequency of recurrent Streptococcus pyogenes infections and therefore recurrent rheumatic fever episodes. It is estimated that the recurrence rate of rheumatic fever is decreased about 85% by providing prophylactic penicillin therapy.