The Riddle of Kawasaki Disease

Two generations of clinicians and researchers have been stumped by the riddle of Kawasaki disease. How can an illness look like an infectious disease but not have a recoverable agent; look like an immune-mediated vasculitis but not be easily treated with corticosteroids; and look like a benign, self-limited illness but be the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children? The answers to the riddle continue to elude us.Kawasaki disease affects children of all ethnic backgrounds throughout the world, although susceptibility is shaped by genetic influences. Japanese children have the highest incidence of the disease, with an attack rate . . .