What is Kawasaki disease?
Who gets Kawasaki disease?
What causes Kawasaki disease?
How do the doctors diagnose Kawasaki disease?
What are post hospital stay concerns?
Is there a chance for Kawasaki Disease to reoccur?
Is Kawasaki Disease preventable?

What is Kawasaki disease?

Kawasaki disease is an illness that causes inflammation of the blood vessels in the whole body. While its symptoms can mimic many infectious and non-infectious diseases, such as scarlet fever, toxic shock syndrome and measles, it was first recognized as a separate illness in 1967 by Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki, a Japanese pediatrician. Characterized by the following symptoms:

If left untreated, it may results in long-term heart complications, such as aneurysm.

Aneurysm is detected through an echo-cardiogram (sound wave test of the heart),
or in some cases, by cardiac catheterization (injecting dye into the heart, pictured here)

Who gets Kawasaki disease?

Kawasaki disease is not a rare illness, with about 5,000 reported cases per year in the United States and over 15,000 per year in Japan. The disease occurs most commonly among children of Asian ancestry, but it affects children of all racial and ethnic groups.

In recent years the disease has sometimes occurred in small, local outbreaks, most often in late winter or early spring, but it is seen during the entire year. Kawasaki disease almost always affects children; most patients are under 5 years old and the average age is 2 years old. Boys develop this illness more often than girls.

What causes Kawasaki disease?

The cause of Kawasaki disease is unknown. Currently, doctors at Children's Memorial are conducting research to determine its cause and to learn why some children, but not others, are vulnerable to it.

Kawasaki disease is not contagious and does not appear to be hereditary. It is rare for more than one child in a family to develop Kawasaki disease. Because the illness sometimes occurs in outbreaks, a infectious cause (such as a virus) is likely.

How do the doctors diagnose Kawasaki disease?

The diagnosis of Kawasaki disease cannot be made by a single test or combination of tests. A physician makes the diagnosis after carefully examining the child, hearing the history of onset of symptoms from the parents, and eliminating the possibilities of the other diseases that can cause similar findings.

A C-reactive protein or ESR, which are tests that are signs of inflammation in the blood; A blood count looking for high white blood cells, low hemoglobin, or high platelets (after 7 days of fever); a urine sample to look for white blood cells in the urine; the amount of albumin, which is one of the body’s proteins, in the blood; liver enzymes, which can be elevated in Kawasaki disease. A heart ultrasound is done to both examine the size of the coronary arteries and in some cases, may be done in order to help make the diagnosis of Kawasaki disease. The blood work and ultrasound of the heart can be very helpful especially for children who do not have all the symptoms of Kawasaki disease (called incomplete KD).

What are post hospital stay concerns?

For the first couple of weeks the child may continue to be tired and have a poor appetite.

More serious area of concerns that require physician notification are:

Is there a chance for Kawasaki Disease to reoccur?

Recurrence of Kawasaki Disease is rare. So far, it is been reported in about 4.3% of cases.


Is Kawasaki Disease preventable?

Unfortunately not at this time. However, programs such as Kawasaki Disease Center in Chicago Children memorial,Dr. Stanford Shulman, and Dr. Anne Rowley; the Kawasaki Disease Research Program in San Diego, Dr. Jane Burns; and other researchers through out the US and Japan mainly working together to understand different aspect of the disease