This day was chosen to honor the legacy of Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki, a Japanese pediatrician who first identified and described the disease in 1967 when he published a study on 50 cases of children with a symptom complex known as “mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome,” later named “Kawasaki disease.”
To this day, the disease remains a mystery, with its etiology still unresolved.
In Ukraine, the diagnosis of Kawasaki disease has improved in recent years, but it remains far from optimal. Kawasaki disease is primarily a clinical diagnosis, and waiting for “positive” echocardiography results can sometimes be fatal for children. Timely treatment is crucial.
Diagnosing Kawasaki disease is always challenging. It is easier to state what is not characteristic of it rather than what occurs. Thrombocytopenia, “acute abdomen,” hepatitis, meningism, retropharyngeal “phlegmon,” and other symptoms can be among its manifestations.
The criteria for complete and incomplete Kawasaki disease are quite “strict” and allow for a clear diagnosis. However, they must always be kept in mind, especially in children under five years old, and particularly in infants under six months. If a child has had a fever for five or more days, along with “bacterial” changes in blood tests that do not respond to antibiotics, Kawasaki disease should always be considered in the differential diagnosis.
Let this day serve as an additional reminder of this serious pediatric illness.