Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) is a chronic damage to the heart valves that occurs as a late complication of rheumatic fever, which develops after an untreated or poorly treated strep throat infection caused by Group A beta-hemolytic streptococci; during the infection the body forms antibodies that mistakenly attack heart tissues due to molecular mimicry, leading to inflammation of the valves and healing with scarring and deformation, resulting in permanent valve disease—most commonly affecting t