Kawasaki Disease is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children in the United States. It’s a disease that involves the skin, mouth and coronary blood vessels and affects children under the age of 5. There is no known cause but it usually happens during the late winter and early spring. The disease isn 't contagious and isn’t similar to any known diseases. If symptoms are recognized early children can recover in a few days, if left untreated it can lead to serious heart complications.
Kawasaki can affect all ethnic groups but is most common among boys of Japanese and Korean descent.
The signs and symptoms of Kawasaki disease cannot be prevented but it has symptoms that appear in different stages. The first stage can last for
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When Kawasaki disease develops, the walls of these arteries become inflamed. Inside the blood vessels there is a cell layer called endothelium, it protects the vessel and prevents blood cells from leaving. During Kawasaki disease something triggers and causes the endothelial cells to become activated and causes the cells of the immune system to stick to the endothelium and seep through the blood vessel wall. Inflammation is caused by the immune cells gathering in the wall and sending chemical signals that duplicate more cells and damage the vessel wall. Intravenous gamma globulin interacts with the cells to quiet down the immune response. When inflammation occurs in the vessel wall it causes the artery to dilate, if treatment is given within 10 days the artery can return to normal size without scarring. However if the inflammation is treated late or the Intravenous gamma globulin is not effective, permanent damage can occur to the arterial wall, sometimes this results in an aneurysm. When it balloons it causes the blood to swirl and increase the risk of blood clot formation. If the blood clot continues to grow this can result in blocking of the vessel and a heart attack can occur.
The cause of Kawasaki disease is unknown, it appears seasonally and so far no single pathogen has been identified. Researchers have tested many bacterial and viral pathogens including retrovirus, staphylococcal, streptococcal, Epstein-barr virus and to this day nothing has been