Detecting Kawasaki Disease Early in Your Child

Doctors across the US are seeing a rise in Kawasaki sickness, a mysterious condition that affects children under 5. The illness is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children all over the world but it is frequently unnoticed or misdiagnosed.

Kawasaki disease is rare, yet cases are increasing in the US. Here are the important things to know about Kawasaki disease.

What causes it?

Nobody knows. Kawasaki disease, otherwise called K.D., is one of the main pediatric mysteries. A few researchers accept it results from environmental exposure or that it occurs after a bacterial or viral infection. Certain genes seem to make a few children more susceptible to it.

Whatever the cause, there was a lull in cases in the US during the pandemic, suggesting that masking and social distancing measures could have helped children from exposure. Presently, cases are increasing, indicating that many children are being exposed to the disease's mysterious cause for the first time.

What to search for

Kawasaki disease is marked by a high fever that lasts over five days, an enlarged lymph node on the neck, and everything red: swollen red hands and feet, red "strawberry tongue," red cracked lips, and other red rashes. Frequently, patients experience skin peeling on their hands and feet. One of the betraying signs of Kawasaki disease is bloodshed eyes.

There is no test to diagnose Kawasaki disease, and doctors must rule out an array of diseases that have similar symptoms, including tick-borne disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, scarlet fever, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic shock syndrome, and even measles. The condition ad looks similar to a multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, which can happen following a Coronavirus infection.

A few children who visit the emergency room and test positive for viral illness like R.S.V. or the flu — yet additionally meet the models for Kawasaki disease — at last, undergo an echocardiogram that shows enlargement of their coronary artery. Therefore, it is significant not to dismiss Kawasaki disease in any event, when another respiratory diagnosis is confirmed.

The risks factors

Without treatment, the acute phase of Kawasaki disease can last for four weeks and then resolve on its own. Yet, the condition can cause swelling of blood vessels, including the arteries that send blood to the heart, as well as damage to the heart muscle and valves, even long after the acute symptoms subside.

Undetected, inflamed heart arteries can develop aneurysms, or bulges in artery walls, which can in turn lead to a risk of blood clots and heart attack.

Around 25% of Kawasaki disease patients who don't seek therapy for the condition will develop aneurysms of the coronary artery, which could lead to heart attacks and death even years later.

Does your child have K.D.?

Fortunately, as long as Kawasaki disease is detected and treated within a few days, outcomes tend to be positive. Patients are admitted to the hospital and given a hefty infusion of intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG, a concoction of antibodies, to quickly calm the inflammatory response.

Along with high doses of aspirin, the infusion can lower the fever, reduce swelling, and prevent heart damage. After the inflammation subsides, an echocardiogram can confirm that the heart still looks healthy.

If you think your child could have Kawasaki disease, ask for a consultation with a Kawasaki disease specialist. For this condition, time is of the essence.

Might I at any point have had Kawasaki disease as a child?

Many adults who had Kawasaki disease during their childhood may not realize they had it. Many were either untreated or were misdiagnosed with another condition that includes rashes. Some of those individuals don't realize they have any heart damage until a tragedy happens during adulthood.

If you think you could have had a missed instance of Kawasaki disease, be sure to see a cardiologist who is familiar with the disease quickly. Doctors request a simple test called a coronary calcium score to check for damage.