Kawasaki Disease - What it is and How You Can Tell if Your Child has Kawasaki Disease

Kawasaki disease is an illness that affects the skin, mouth, lymph nodes, blood vessel walls and if untreated can cause serious heart conditions. Kawasaki disease is a condition that causes inflammation in the walls of small- and medium-sized arteries throughout the body, including the coronary arteries. Kawasaki disease is also called mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome because as mentioned above it also affects lymph nodes. Kawasaki disease was first identified by a Japanese doctor, Tomisaku Kawasaki, in 1967, and that is why it is called Kawasaki disease.

Kawasaki disease occurs more often in boys than girls, it affects 19 out of every 100,000 kids in the United States whereas highest incidence of Kawasaki disease occurs in Japan, where 175 per 100,000 are diagnosed with Kawasaki disease. It is most common among children of Japanese and Korean descent, but can affect all ethnic groups. The condition is not preventable, but it's treatable in most cases especially if the disease is identified within time. Most children recover from Kawasaki disease without serious problems.

The symptoms of Kawasaki disease appear in two phases. The first phase usually lasts for about two weeks. The most common and initial symptom of Kawasaki disease is an unusually high fever of about 104 degree Fahrenheit that usually lasts for about five days. In addition to the persistent high fever the key five symptoms of Kawasaki disease are:

Changes in extremities (usually occurs one to two weeks after onset of the illness): Reddening and rashes on palms and soles. Unexplained swelling of hands and feet peeling of the skin around fingernails and toenails.

Rash, often accentuated in the groin area.

Bloodshot, red eyes, without drainage or pus.

Redness in the lips, mouth and throat:

• Reddening and cracking of the lips.
• A characteristic reddening of the tongue, called strawberry tongue

Swollen lymph nodes in the neck (more than 1.5 cm), usually just on one side.

During the second phase, which usually begins within 2 weeks of when the fever started, the skin on the hands and feet may begin to peel in large pieces. The child also may experience joint pain, diarrhea, vomiting, or abdominal pain.

Treatment should begin as soon as possible, ideally within the first 10 days of the first symptom or during the first phase of the disease. Only then the child can be cured without any complications. Usually, a child is treated with intravenous doses of gamma globulin (purified antibodies), an ingredient of blood that helps the body fight infection. The child also might be given a high dose of aspirin to reduce the risk of heart problems. Aspirin is used to decrease inflammation and lower fever, as well as prevents blood clots.