Kawasaki Disease

Kawasaki disease ( KD ) is seen worldwide First reported in 1961 by Dr Tomisaku Kawasaki in Japan Seen predominantly in Northeast Asian countries like Japan , S Korea , China and Taiwan where it happens 10-30 times more commonly than in the US or Europe More common in boys Severe cardiac complications are also more significantly over represented in boys Most common cause of acquired heart disease during childhood in most industrialized nations In the UK the disease is seen rarely with an incidence estimated to be 8 per 100 000 children under 5 yrs of age - more common in Asian children from Japan 100 % cases in children , more than 85 % of children are younger than 5 with peak incidence at 18-24 months ( some papers quote a peak incidence at 10-11 months ) Low incidence in 1st 6 months Seasonability- peak incidence in winter and spring months Predisposing factors have been reported inconsistently

Etiology- Etiology is not clear the disease is generally self limiting It is assumed from epidemiology and clinical presentation that an infectious cause is likely but it is not known if the cause is a single unknown agent or groups of...