{
  "abstract": "Introduction Rheumatic heart disease, a major cause of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries, results from acute rheumatic fever (ARF), for which no diagnostic test currently exists. The ARF Diagnosis Collaborative Network (ARC Network) was established to address this gap by recruiting a rigorously phenotyped, globally representative cohort of children and adolescents with ARF and controls to support biomarker discovery. This paper describes the ARC Network’s multicentre recruitment strategy and standardised procedures for classifying ARF cases and controls, enabling robust development of novel, accessible diagnostics.Methods and analysis The ARC Network recruits children and adolescents aged 3–18 years with suspected ARF and matched controls across four countries. Clinical, laboratory and echocardiographic data are collected using standardised protocols. Echocardiographic and clinical core teams provide rigorous standardised case review. Biospecimens are processed locally following harmonised procedures and shipped to a central biobank for long-term storage and future biomarker studies. Centralised training, quality control and a research database ensure high-quality, globally representative data to support ARF biomarker discovery.Ethics and dissemination The ARC Network follows Institutional Review Board protocols with local ethical approval and informed consent, and oversees clinical data and biobank use for ARF research.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Burnet Campus, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Ndate Fall"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The Kids Research Institute Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Asha Clare Bowen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Burnet Campus, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Samantha Buonfiglio"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Global and Tropical Health Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia",
        "Paediatrics, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Joshua Reginald Francis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The Kids Research Institute Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Christopher Gorman"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Children’s State Hospital, Fiera De Santana, Bahia, Brazil"
      ],
      "name": "Renata Fonseca Mendoza"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Menzies School of Health Research Timor-Leste, Díli, Timor-Leste"
      ],
      "name": "Ela Fernandes"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Molecular Medicine and Pathology, The University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Auckland, New Zealand"
      ],
      "name": "Nicole J Moreland"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil"
      ],
      "name": "Maria Carmo Pereira Nunes"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ochsner Health, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Craig Sable"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Paediatric Cardiology, The Children’s Hospital/ICH, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan"
      ],
      "name": "Masood Sadiq"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada",
        "St Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Casey P Shannon"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Imperial College London, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Tom Parks"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Anna Ralph"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA",
        "Baylor foundation Malawi, Lilongwe, Malawi"
      ],
      "name": "Amy Sanyahumbi"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Cardiology, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Rachel Sarnacki"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Scott Tebbutt"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Auckland, New Zealand",
        "Starship Children’s Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand"
      ],
      "name": "Rachel Webb"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The Kids Research Institute Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia",
        "University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia",
        "Child and Adolescent Health Service, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Jonathan Carapetis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Burnet Campus, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA",
        "Cardiology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Andrea Zawacki Beaton"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [],
      "name": "ARC Diagnostic Network"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Acute Rheumatic Fever Diagnostic Network (ARC Network) clinical recruitment protocol",
  "uid": "6b507ae2-4cc2-50b1-9c92-e99cf432aabf"
}