Hello, Thank you for your question,

Your heart valves were damaged ?

damaged by rheumatic fever ?

Use reply button to send the reply......

you there?

Streptococcal infection can lead to rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.

In this case carditis and heart valves are damaged.

In most cases heart failure or CHF is secondary to the heart valve damage.

In few cases it can be directly due to damage to the heart muscles.

but in most cases it is acute and occurs within few years of infection.

If your heart valves were ok and you have developed heart failure after 25 years of age then there are high chances that your heart failure is more likely to be due to other causes.

In these causes main and most likely is ischemic heart disease.

Echocardiogram is the best test to rule out heart valve damage.

It can also show whether heart valves are damaged due to rheumatic disease or due to some other cause.

I hope this helps.

Let me know if you have more questions.

Click ACCEPT if you have received your answer.

Thank you and have a nice day.