Prof Tagg, the founding scientist of Dunedin company Blis Technologies, has dedicated much of his life to exploring ways to fight the disease.
''It pretty much programmed my life thereafter,'' the University of Otago microbiologist said yesterday.
Prof Tagg discovered the Blis K12 probiotic bacteria nearly 20 years ago.
It helped support the body's natural defence against throat and ear infections and was effective in the prevention of streptococcal throat infections, which could lead to rheumatic fever.
Blis Technologies has now partnered with the Eastern Bay of Plenty Primary Health Alliance and the Kawerau rheumatic fever prevention programme, donating 200 bottles of Blis K12 Throat Guard Daily probiotics to aid children and families in the region.
It was ''not absolutely clear'' why New Zealand had such a ''dire'' problem when elsewhere in the developed world, like Europe, the disease had almost disappeared, Prof Tagg said.
''In New Zealand, it's bad and doesn't seem to be getting any better.''
It had been linked to overcrowding and there might be some genetic reasons.
It was hard to pinpoint why it was a particular concern in Maori and Pacific Island ethnicities, where there was a big disparity with the number of cases, compared to European children.
The Government realised it was a significant problem and had made it a priority to address it, he said.
Growing up in Melbourne, Prof Tagg was 12 when he was affected by the disease.
Thankfully, it did not affect his heart, he said.
His mentor, Lewis Wannamaker, from the United States, who was world-renowned for his rheumatic fever research, commented it was a disease ''that licks the joints but bites the heart''.
Prof Tagg remembered how it affected his own joints, and recalled his knees and elbows, in particular, aching and how those aches would ''flit from joint to joint''.
As a consequence, he was required to take penicillin daily and, by the time he started studying at university in Melbourne, he was ''really fed up with it''.
Awareness of the potential of Blis probiotics came when members of the Eastern Bay of Plenty rheumatic fever sector attended a lecture by Prof Tagg earlier this year.
Kawerau, a town in the region, has a high instance of rheumatic fever.
About 1580 children were monitored each week, about 1300 swabs were taken every school term and, on average, 13% of the swabs returned a Group A streptococcus (GAS) positive result. Rheumatic fever could occur after a strep throat infection caused by a GAS bacterium.
Most strep throat infections got better and did not lead to rheumatic fever.
However, in a small number of people, an untreated strep throat developed into rheumatic fever, where heart, joints, brain and skin could sometimes be damaged.
Prof Tagg said his philosophy was ''prevention is better than a cure''.
It was better to stop a sore throat from occurring, rather than waiting for it do develop and then treating it.
• There were 171 cases of acute rheumatic fever, or 3.9 cases per 100,000 people, diagnosed in New Zealand in 2012, the Ministry of Health's website showed.
