Is rheumatic heart disease related to asthma?

Cardiac asthma: Rheumatic heart disease is a post infectious complication of a strep infection and is unrelated to asthma, a lung disease characterized by hyper-reactive airways. However, rhd can produce left heart failure, with pulmonary venous congestion and pulmonary edema causing wheezing & respiratory distress, which can mimic asthma and is sometimes called "cardiac asthma.".

No: Rheumatic fever (rf) is casued by a bacterial infection (streptococcus) and can cause heart valve problems. Asthma is a condition of the lungs and airway obstruction and spasm. However, if heart valves are affected by rf, then they can leak and cause symptoms that mimic asthma. This condition of commonly referred to as cardiac asthma.