1.What is rheumatoid arthritis, which joints are most often damaged, and what are the other symptoms besides joint swelling and pain? Rheumatoid arthritis is a common acute or chronic inflammatory disease of connective tissue. It mostly starts with acute fever and joint pain, and can recur and involve the heart. It is characterized clinically by wandering soreness, heaviness and pain in joints and muscles, and is one of the main manifestations of rheumatic fever. It should be noted that the diagnostic name rheumatoid arthritis has been gradually abandoned by the clinic, and if the joint pain is caused by confirmed rheumatic fever, the clinical diagnosis is usually rheumatic fever without additional diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. However, since the term rheumatoid arthritis is still widely used by the general public, this article also introduces the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. 2. How does this disease develop and is it caused by cold? The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is not fully understood. It is generally believed to be closely related to human hemolytic streptococcal infection. Cold alone does not cause the disease to occur, but if the cold causes the body’s resistance to reduce, and thus complicate the infection, it may lead to rheumatoid arthritis. 3.What groups of people are susceptible to the disease? Rheumatic fever has family prevalence and genetic tendency, so relatives of patients are at high risk of rheumatic fever and should focus on prevention Rheumatic fever and rheumatoid arthritis mainly endanger the lives and health of school-age children and adolescents. In addition, the disease has a tendency to occur in families and hereditary, so the patient’s family members are also at high risk. 4.Is the damage to the joints reversible and can the joints return to normal after the disease is cured? Rheumatoid arthritis symptoms generally disappear with the disappearance of rheumatic activity, and joint function is restored without leaving behind ankylosis or deformity. 5.Is it possible for all patients with rheumatoid arthritis to get rheumatic heart disease? The occurrence of rheumatic heart disease is generally related to the severity of rheumatic fever and preventive treatment, etc. Atypical patients only have joint pain without other inflammatory manifestations, but if the condition is serious or clinical treatment is not timely, myocarditis will occur and even heart valve lesions will remain. 6.Can rheumatoid arthritis be cured and is it prone to recurrence? Rheumatoid arthritis can generally be cured, but is prone to recurrent attacks. 7.Which joint pains should be suspected to be rheumatoid arthritis and what symptoms will there be in other parts of the body besides the joints? If there is redness, swelling, heat and pain in large joints such as knee, ankle, shoulder, elbow and wrist, and mild or moderate fever, you should pay attention to whether it is rheumatoid arthritis. Joint pain is the most common symptom of rheumatic fever. In addition, rheumatic fever can also cause heart inflammation, annular erythema, arthritis, chorea, and subcutaneous nodules. The lesions can be acute or chronic recurrent, and can leave behind heart valve lesions to form chronic rheumatic heart valve disease. 8. Are the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis easily confused with rheumatoid arthritis? What tests are needed to confirm the diagnosis? Rheumatoid arthritis can sometimes be confused with rheumatoid arthritis. The most common test is the rheumatoid factor (RF). Rheumatoid arthritis is often positive for RF and may be positive for anti-keratin antibodies and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies. In contrast, rheumatoid arthritis RF is mostly negative. Of course, the diagnosis needs to be made by a doctor in a regular hospital according to the condition. 9.What is the anti-O factor? Can a high anti-O factor confirm the diagnosis? Anti-O” or ASO is called anti-streptococcal hemolysin “O”. A metabolite produced by Streptococcus haemolyticus can lyse red blood cells, so this product is named “O” haemolysin, which exists in the body as an antigenic substance after human infection with group A haemolytic streptococci. If the ASO is higher than 500 units, it means that the patient has recently been infected with Streptococcus haemolyticus. However, if some patients only have elevated anti-O, but no symptoms such as joint pain, it cannot be considered as rheumatoid arthritis, but only indicates that there has been a recent hemolytic streptococcal infection. 10.What other diseases can also lead to elevated anti-O factor? Coxsackie B virus, hypercholesterolemia, hemolysis, hepatitis, nephrotic syndrome and other diseases can show a non-specific increase in anti-O, but the titer is not very high, as is the case with rheumatoid arthritis. 11.What imaging tests are needed to confirm the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis? Specific imaging tests are generally not required to confirm the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. 12.Is it necessary to suspect other diseases if the diagnosis is still difficult to cure with penicillin and aspirin? After the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, the use of penicillin and aspirin can usually control the disease progression and relieve the symptoms. Symptoms usually resolve significantly after 24-48 hours of medication, and arthritis rarely persists for more than 4 weeks even without treatment. If the results are not good or if the disease persists, you should go to the hospital for further examination as soon as possible to prevent other diseases from occurring.