Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease

Highlights included:

• 45 notifications, including one recurrent case of ARF; a 36% increase over 2016 likely due to improved case reporting since the conditions became notifiable in October 2015
• 77% of people notified were aged less than 25 years, with 53% aged between 5 and 14 years
• most were from high risk backgrounds: 50% identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and another 41% identified as having a Maori or Pacific Islander background
• 42% of eligible people have given consent to be included in the NSW RHD Register.

For more information see ​Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF) and Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD).​​​