Rheumatic heart disease and Indigenous Australians

* Acute Rheumatic Fever begins with a common Group A Strep infection, which manifests as an infected sore throat or infected skin sores

* People affected by rheumatic fever usually present with a range of non-specific symptoms, including fever, painful and tender joints, rash, chest pain, shortness of breath, tiredness and jerky body movements

* Rheumatic Heart Disease occurs when heart valves are damaged by recurrent, untreated episodes of rheumatic fever

* Effective treatments exist to prevent people diagnosed with rheumatic fever from developing rheumatic heart disease, usually via regular injections of long-acting penicillin under treatment courses that can last years

* In Australia, acute rheumatic fever is often misdiagnosed and, as a consequence, mismanaged, leading to permanent heart valves damage

* Currently, about 420 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a diagnosed episode of rheumatic fever each year - a rate that's 123 times higher than for non-Indigenous people

* Of the more than 5000 people living with rheumatic heart disease in Australia, more than 70 per cent are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, representing one of the highest per capita burdens for the disease in the world.

* Almost 70 per cent of new cases of rheumatic fever cases are preventable

Australian Associated Press