Kawasaki Disease

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Kawasaki Disease

Kawasaki disease is widely known as Kawasaki syndrome. It is an acute febrile illness that primarily affects children who are younger than 5 years. The disease is named after Tomisaku Kawasaki as he was the first person who described the disease in 1967 in Japan (Newburger 1739). Kawasaki is an illness that results in inflammation in the blood vessels. The inflammation also affects coronary arteries that are responsible for supplying blood to the heart muscles.

Kawasaki disease is considered as one of the leading causes of acquired heart disease in the US. The disease can cause serious complications such as coronary artery dilations and even aneurysms. Although, treatments such as aspirin that are given orally along with intravenous immunoglobulin can significantly reduce the development of the abnormalities of coronary artery yet still the disease can cause severe damage to the heart muscles (Newburger 1739).

It has been observed that Kawasaki disease is common in Japan but specifically discussing the continental US, according to the reports published by the CDC, 10 to 19 children out of one million children under the age of 5 have Kawasaki syndrome which is alarming ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"C2rwGS27","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC})","plainCitation":"(About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":270,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/sbFMNDWM/items/4KPVA4AI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/sbFMNDWM/items/4KPVA4AI"],"itemData":{"id":270,"type":"webpage","abstract":"Kawasaki syndrome (KS), also known as Kawasaki disease, is an acute febrile illness of unknown etiology that primarily affects children younger than 5 years of age.","language":"en-us","title":"About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC","URL":"https://www.cdc.gov/kawasaki/about.html","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2020",1,6]]},"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018",10,30]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC).

While discussing the symptoms of Kawasaki syndrome, the symptoms usually start developing in three phases. In phase, a child has a fever of more than 102. F, that typically, lasts more than two to three days along with red eyes. As the disease progresses, rashes began to appear on the main parts of a body including the genital area. In the second phase, a child suffering from Kawasaki syndrome may develop joint paint along with diarrhea, abdominal pain and peeling of the skin, especially from feet and hands. Similarly, in the third and final phase, signs and symptoms of the disease gradually start disappearing unless complications starting to develop.

Since the disease is known for causing blood clots and damaging blood vessels it has the potential to damage the heart. Children suffering from Kawasaki disease may have heart valve issues along with inflammation of coronary arteries that leads to an inflammation of heart muscles. Inflammation in the coronary arteries is directly linked with a weakening of artery walls that can result in a heart attack.

Kawasaki disease's initial symptoms look similar to that of any viral or bacterial illness. However, after the diseases progress the symptoms become clearer and physicians will order tests such as an echocardiogram, blood test, and urine samples (Newburger 1739). It is recommended to start the treatment as early as possible to avert coronary aneurysms. It has been noted that steroids can also help in averting coronary aneurysms.

According to CDC, the causes of Kawasaki disease are unknown yet scientist believes that the disease is not contagious that is it does bot spread from one person to another ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"iEL062H2","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC})","plainCitation":"(About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":270,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/sbFMNDWM/items/4KPVA4AI"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/sbFMNDWM/items/4KPVA4AI"],"itemData":{"id":270,"type":"webpage","abstract":"Kawasaki syndrome (KS), also known as Kawasaki disease, is an acute febrile illness of unknown etiology that primarily affects children younger than 5 years of age.","language":"en-us","title":"About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC","URL":"https://www.cdc.gov/kawasaki/about.html","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2020",1,6]]},"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018",10,30]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC). However, there are some fast facts that needed to be considered such as there are several factors that increase a child's risk of developing Kawasaki disease. These factors are ethnicity, age, and sex. Several pieces of research have revealed that most children especially boys belonging from Asian or Pacific Island and are under the age of 5 are more prone to develop Kawasaki Diseases.

It is crucial to monitor children who had Kawasaki disease since aneurysms start developing after a few weeks of illness. Therefore it is important that children should have an echocardiogram test to assure that there are no blood clots in the blood vessels (McCrindle 927). In terms of long-term care, it is important that the cholesterol level of the children who had Kawasaki disease in the past must be checked to avoid the risk of developing any kind of cardiovascular disease.

Works Cited

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY About Kawasaki Disease | Kawasaki Disease | CDC. 30 Oct. 2018, https://www.cdc.gov/kawasaki/about.html.

McCrindle, Brian W., et al. "Diagnosis, treatment, and long-term management of Kawasaki disease: a scientific statement for health professionals from the American Heart Association." Circulation 135.17 (2017): e927-e999.

Newburger, Jane W., Masato Takahashi, and Jane C. Burns. "Kawasaki disease." Journal of the American College of Cardiology 67.14 (2016): 1738-1749.