rheumatic fever
Noun
Meaning
a severe disease chiefly of children and characterized by painful inflammation of the joints and frequently damage to the heart valves
Source: WordNetSynonyms
Hypernyms
Examples
My dream was to become a ballet dancer, but after a year in bed with rheumatic fever at 13, I had grown too tall, and had no muscle tone left. I tried a ballet class and couldn't even do a plie without falling over. It was my first death.
When I was 11, I spent eight months in the hospital with rheumatic fever and almost died.
I remember when I was very young, I had a fever - a long rheumatic fever in bed for four months. And in the days, I stayed alone with the maid. I only had my father's books with me. They were fantasy books about ghosts, and also books by Edgar Allen Poe that made a forever impression on me.
According to his brother Rudolf, at the age of six or seven Kurt suffered from rheumatic fever ; he completely recovered, but for the rest of his life he remained convinced that his heart had suffered permanent damage.
At the age of eight, Armstrong contracted Sydenham's chorea (then known as St. Vitus' Dance ), an infrequent but serious neurological disorder precipitated by rheumatic fever.
Hough, p. 116. During the birth of her third child in 1867, the added complication of a bout of rheumatic fever threatened Alexandra's life, and left her with a permanent limp.