Jan 03 2009
Kawasaki Disease
With the recent death of Jett Travolta still fresh in my mind I thought I would take a look on the internet and research Kawasaki Disease which is an illness that he was diagnosed with at age 2. According to kidshealth.org Kawasaki disease is an illness that “involves the skin, mouth, and lymph nodes” and usually affects kids under the age of 5 years old. It’s cause is unknown. Kelly Preston has alleged that chemicals found in carpet cleaners and fertilizer brought on the illness in her son Jett at age 2. Once diagnosed, Kawasaki is easily treated and the child can make a full recovery in a few days. If left undiagnosed and untreated, the illness can lead to serious complications that can affect the child’s heart. According to kidshealth.org 19 out of every 100,000 kids in the United States is diagnosed with Kawasaki disease. The illness is most commonly found among children of Japanese and Korean descent, but it can affect all ethnic groups. The illness can not be prevented.
Some of the symptoms of Kawasaki disease are:
Phase one includes a “persistent fever higher than 104 F and lasts for about five days. The fever may be accompanied by:
severe redness in the eyes, a rash on stomach, chest and genitals, red dry cracked lips, swollen tongue with white coating and big red lumps, sore and irritated throat, swollen palms and soles of the feet with a purple-red color, and swollen lymph nodes.
The second phase comes usually within 2 weeks of the fever and includes the peeling of the feet and hands in large pieces, joint pain, diarrhea, vomiting or abdominal pain. If YOUR CHILD HAS ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS, CALL YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY!
Luckily, if the illness is treated within 10 days of the beginning of the symptoms, heart problems usually do not develop. If a case goes undetected it can lead to more serious complications such as “vasculitis, which is an inflammation of the blood vessels which can be particularly dangerous because it can affect the coronary arteries which supply blood to the heart. It can also cause inflammation to the heart muscle, lining, valves, and the outer membrane surrounding the heart. ”
There is no single test for the disease; doctors have to rule out other illnesses and evaluate the child’s particular symptoms before he/she can make the diagnosis of Kawasaki disease. A doctor usually orders an echocardiogram to monitor the child’s heart, and takes blood and urine samples in order to rule out other illnesses such as scarlet fever, measles, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, or an allergic reaction to a drug.
Once diagnosed with Kawasaki disease a child is treated with “intravenous doses of gamma globulin (purified antibodies) which is a natural ingredient in blood that helps the body fight infection and a high does of aspirin to reduce the risk of hear problems. “
The information above was based on an article by Joel Klein, MD (October 2008)
I hope you found it useful and/or interesting.
