Jones Criteria (Acute Rheumatic Fever, 2015)
2015 revised Jones criteria (AHA, Gewitz 2015) for diagnosing acute rheumatic fever.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Evidence of preceding group A strep
- Yes
- Carditis (clinical and/or subclinical)
- Yes
- Polyarthritis
- Yes
Result: Meets the Jones criteria for initial acute rheumatic fever: 2 major manifestations (carditis + polyarthritis) with group A strep evidence.
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- Met
- Initial ARF: 2 major, or 1 major + 2 minor. Recurrent ARF also allows 3 minor. Requires evidence of preceding group A strep, except isolated chorea.
- Needs strep evidence
- The manifestation count is met but evidence of preceding group A strep is not documented (and it is not isolated chorea).
- Not met
- Fewer manifestations than the threshold for the chosen episode type.
What you enter
- Population risk tier (low / moderate-high)
- Episode (initial / recurrent ARF)
- Evidence of preceding group A strep
- Carditis (clinical and/or subclinical) [major]
- Sydenham chorea [major; sufficient alone]
- Erythema marginatum [major]
- Subcutaneous nodules [major]
- Polyarthritis [major, both tiers]
The other 6 fields
- Monoarthritis [major in moderate/high-risk only]
- Polyarthralgia [major in moderate/high-risk; minor in low-risk]
- Monoarthralgia [minor in moderate/high-risk only]
- Fever (>= 38.5 C low-risk / >= 38 C moderate-high-risk) [minor]
- Elevated ESR (>= 60 low / >= 30 moderate-high mm/h) and/or CRP >= 3 mg/dL [minor]
- Prolonged PR interval (counts only if carditis absent) [minor]
How this is calculated
Citation
Gewitz MH, Baltimore RS, Tani LY, et al. Revision of the Jones Criteria for the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever in the era of Doppler echocardiography: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA). Circulation. 2015;131(20):1806-1818. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.