Kawasaki Disease

Alternate Names : Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome, Kawasaki's Syndrome

What can be done to prevent the disease?

There is no known way to prevent Kawasaki's disease.

What are the long-term effects of the disease?

In at least half of the cases, children get better within a few weeks without any long-term effects. Kawasaki's disease recurs in only 2% of the children who recover from the initial episode.

The 20% of children who have heart involvement face many problems, some of which are life-threatening. Heart involvement can cause death, though this is rare. The child may develop congestive heart failure, a condition in which the weakened heart fails to pump enough blood to body organs. Most of the heart problems go away after a short time.

However, aneurysms, which are permanent areas of abnormal widening in the heart arteries, may occur. This increases the risk of heart attack long after the disease goes away.

What are the risks to others?

Although many experts believe Kawasaki's disease may be linked to a viral infection, it is not considered contagious from person to person.