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kawasaki disease :: Article Creator

Doctor Who Led The 1st Kawasaki Disease Research Dies At 95

Pediatrician Tomisaku Kawasaki, famed for discovering the inflammatory syndrome of an unknown cause in young children later named after him, died June 5 of old age in a Tokyo hospital. He was 95.

Kawasaki disease returned to the spotlight in 2020 in connection with the novel coronavirus after a number of Western countries reported that children infected with COVID-19 had developed symptoms similar to it.

Kawasaki was born in 1925 in Tokyo's Asakusa district. In 1961, he encountered a disease in which children were running a high fever for an extended period and their eyes and lips turned red. When the fever waned, the skin of patient's fingertips would peel off.

In 1967, Kawasaki published a paper on the symptoms of 50 patients with the illness in the medical journal Arerugi.

The disease was named "Acute febrile muco-cutaneous lymph node syndrome (MCLS) in young children," but is commonly called "Kawasaki disease" around the globe.

Some 15,000 people develop the disease every year in Japan, the cause of which remains unknown. Patients with severe symptoms may experience myocardial infarction and suffer permanent damage to their hearts. 

In the 1970s, Kawasaki headed a health ministry research team to investigate the cause of the disease and develop a treatment for it.

In his later years, he served as chief director of the nonprofit organization Japan Kawasaki Disease Research Center and provided telephone consultations for patients.

The pediatrician was awarded numerous prizes in medicine over his lengthy career, including the Asahi Prize in 1989, the Japan Academy Prize in 1991 and the first Japan Pediatric Society Prize in 2006.


Twin Sails Bridge To Turn Red For Kawasaki Disease Awareness

Twin Sails Bridge in Poole will be lit up on Sunday, January 26, for International Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day.

The bridge will be joining other landmarks across the UK in an international campaign led by the Societi Foundation for Kawasaki Disease.

The charity is working to raise awareness of the disease, which it says is "increasingly common" and often misdiagnosed due to low public awareness.

READ MORE: Dorset school hosts first SEND learning conference

imageTwin Sails Bridge set to light up red for Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day (Image: Canva) Rachael McCormack, founder of the Societi Foundation, said: "We are thrilled that Twin Sails Bridge will be shining a light on Kawasaki Disease and we are extremely grateful to BCP Council for their amazing support.

"Despite Kawasaki Disease being increasingly common, low public awareness means it's often initially misdiagnosed, putting children's hearts at risk.

"We need families to know Kawasaki Disease so we can reduce the number of children suffering the devastating effect of serious, lifelong heart damage.

"We are so grateful to all the landmarks across the UK that are lighting up for International Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day.

"They really are helping us to protect children's hearts and that is just amazing."

Kawasaki Disease is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children in the UK.

It can be fatal in up to three per cent of cases if not treated and about a quarter of all children affected will go on to have lifelong heart damage, despite treatment.

Professor Robert Tulloh, a paediatric cardiologist and chair of the Societi Foundation, said: "Early diagnosis and rapid treatment reduces the risk of children with Kawasaki Disease suffering from devastating heart damage.

"Awareness of the signs and symptoms in the UK will help significantly with this."

The charity is urging parents to be aware of the symptoms of Kawasaki Disease, which include a persistent fever of 38°C or over for more than five days, irritability and a red rash.

Other symptoms can include red swollen hands and feet, a red, dry, sore mouth, cracked lips, a 'strawberry tongue', red bloodshot eyes and a swollen gland in the neck.





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