Kawasaki disease is a serious illness of young children. It can result in heart damage and lead to death. Kawasaki disease occurs worldwide, but most often in Japan. Physicians do not know the cause of the disease, but many researchers suspect that a virus is involved.
The symptoms of Kawasaki disease include prolonged high fever; redness of the eyes; sore throat; red, cracked, and bleeding lips; swollen lymph nodes in the neck; a red rash over the body; and swollen and red hands and feet. After the rash clears, the skin peels, especially on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.
Kawasaki disease is most dangerous when it affects the heart. About 10 percent of all patients suffer heart damage, but only a very small number of these patients die. Early in the illness, inflammation of the heart muscle can cause the heart to fail. Later, inflammation of the arteries that supply blood to the heart can weaken and scar the artery walls. In rare cases, this condition leads to blood clots and a heart attack.
Most people recover completely from Kawasaki disease. Physicians give aspirin and disease-fighting proteins called gamma globulins to reduce the symptoms and the risk of heart damage.
Kawasaki disease was named for Tomisaku Kawasaki, a Japanese pediatrician. Kawasaki first identified the disease in 1967.
