BMJ  2003;327:917 (18 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7420.917

Commentary

diagnosis is based on clinical features

David Burgner, paediatric infectious diseases physician1

1 School of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia dburgner@paed.uwa.edu.au

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Kawasaki disease is a not uncommon and probably underdiagnosed paediatric vasculitis. The incidence of the disease in the United Kingdom, as in other countries, seems to be increasing.1 Kawasaki disease often enters the differential of febrile childhood illnesses, and this case shows the difficulties of making a timely diagnosis. Early recognition is critical; Kawasaki disease is the commonest cause of acquired heart disease in children, with about one third of untreated children developing coronary artery damage with a short term increased risk of death and serious long term sequelae. Prompt treatment within the first 10 days prevents overt coronary damage in most cases.2

The cause of Kawasaki disease is unknown, and consequently there is no diagnostic test. The diagnosis is made on a cluster of clinical signs (box). The diagnostic criteria are specific but lack sensitivity; atypical Kawasaki disease, in which coronary damage occurs without full diagnostic criteria is well . . . [Full text of this article]

-->
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

A 2 year old child with rash and fever
Rita Sharma, Andrew Boon, and Anthony Harnden
BMJ 2003 327: 916. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ