This is a comprehensive summary on all aspects of acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, including global epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, management, and public health aspects. These guidelines provide excellent technical detail on the role of the laboratory in the diagnosis of rheumatic fever. This publication is the source for the most widely used revision of the Jones criteria, as referred to in this monograph. This revision is presented in these guidelines in the context of all previous revisions of the Jones criteria. There is a large chapter outlining issues in the diagnosis of rheumatic fever, including the differential diagnosis of polyarthritis and fever, and the differential diagnosis of chorea. There is also a chapter discussing planning and implementation of programmes for the prevention and control of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.