Kawasaki Disease

Kawasaki disease (KD) - tends to affect young children (under 5 years) with potential to develop aneurysms of coronary and other blood vessels with severe long term morbidity and mortality. Prompt diagnosis and early treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin and high dose aspirin, markedly reduce the risk of developing coronary aneurysms.

The characteristic features of KD include fever > 5 days, red palms and soles with characteristic skin peeling after 10-14 days (photograph below), widespread rash, bilateral (non-purulent) conjunctivitis, red lips, tongue and oral cavity with infected throat and cervical lymphadenopathy.

The photograph below shows characteristic skin peeling after 10-14 days. 

Reactivation of BCG at the site of the skin inoculation (below), is a characteristic feature observed in KD and can be helpful in the differential diagnosis of a child presenting with a febrile illness.

 The photograph below shows typical features of bilateral conjunctivitis and red lips in KD

The chart below describes the typical features of KD (used with permission from Dr Raju Khubchandani, Mumbai, India) - the full article is available in resources