Center for Kawasaki Disease
Over the past 28 years, the Division of Infectious
Disease at Children's Memorial Hospital has cared for more than 1300
children with Kawasaki disease.
During this time, doctors at Children's Memorial and elsewhere have conducted
research and developed a treatment for Kawasaki disease that reduces the chances
of development of coronary artery disease very substantially. Children's
Memorial has become well known nationally and internationally as a leading
center for Kawasaki disease. The clinical, educational, and research programs
are included in the Children's Memorial Hospital Center for Kawasaki
Disease.
Kawasaki Disease: Finding the Cause
Scientists around the world have struggled to identify
the cause of Kawasaki disease, but this is still not known. This illness looks
very much like an infectious disease, although it does not appear to spread from
person to person. We originally thought that Kawasaki disease might be caused by
a virus distantly related to the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency
syndrome (AIDS
), but
this has proved not correct .
More recently, researchers in Italy suggested that the
virus that causes the common illness in children called fifth disease, also
caused Kawasaki disease, but in studies with that group we have disproved this
possibility. One group of U.S. researchers recently proposed that a form of the
germ Staphylococcus aureus could be the cause of Kawasaki disease.
Unfortunately, our studies disproved this theory also. We continue to collect
information and specimens from Kawasaki patients and are continuing research
into the cause of this illness.