Children's Hospital Colorado Recognizes Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day
January 26, 2013, marks the third official "Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day." This is the day that Kawasaki Disease (KD) was first described in the 1960s by a pediatrician in Japan named Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki. Dr. Kawasaki described it as a new disease that was occurring in previously healthy young children. Fifty years later, with the cause of KD still unknown, doctors and researchers are still looking for answers to the very puzzling disease.
Signs and symptoms of Kawasaki Disease:
- High fever lasting an average of 10 days
- Red, bloodshot eyes
- Red, cracked lips and red tongue
- Swollen lymph nodes in the neck
- Rash involving much of the body, especially the groin area
- Red, swollen hands and feet
- No cause found for these symptoms
Children with Kawasaki Disease are very inflamed on the outside of their body, and the inflammation also occurs on the inside of the body in the blood vessels. Some children can develop problems with their blood vessels, especially the arteries that feed the heart (the coronary arteries). If properly treated, full recovery can be expected in most cases, but the possibilities of blood vessel and heart disease in later life remain subjects of medical investigation. Learn more about the Heart Institute at Children's Colorado.
Information and resources about Kawasaki Disease
Download more KD information from Children's Hospital Colorado (.pdf)
Download/print a poster with KD signs and symptoms (.pdf)
Visit the Kawasaki Disease Foundation website
