The Kawasaki syndrome or disease was named after a Japanese pediatrician named Tomisaku Kawasaki who was the first to described the illness in medical literature in 1967. The Kawasaki syndrome, also known as the Mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome, is a very rare autoimmune disease that most commonly affects children usually under the age of five. Older children and those who are in their teenage years can also get this disease but it is very uncommon. Cases of the Kawasaki syndrome is often diagnosed during winter and spring seasons. Specialist believe that there is some sort of unknown bacteria or virus involved. However, they do not know the exact cause of the Kawasaki syndrome or what gene in the DNA of a person plays a role in it.
In the United States, 19 out of 100,000 children are diagnosed with the Kawasaki syndrome. Usually children of an Asian descent are more likely to be diagnosed with the Kawasaki syndrome than those who are not of Asian descent. Also boys are more likely to develop the Kawasaki syndrome than girls. This disease affects a childs coronary arteries as well as their skin, mouth, mucous membranes, and lymph nodes. The Kawasaki syndrome also can not be transferred or spread from one child to another, it is not contagious.
Symptoms of the Kawasaki syndrome come in three phases. Phase one is a high fever of over 102 degrees that lasts up to five days or even more. The child may have conjunctivitis with thick discharge, dry, red, cracked lips. Also they will have swollen tongue and swollen palms of hands, soles of feet, and lymph nodes, usually in the neck area. Phase two is that the child will experience peeling of skin on their hands and feet and sometimes the genital area. As well as joint and abdominal p...
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... occurs mostly in the coronary arteries. This can lead to an aneurysm which increase the chance of having more blood clots form and block the coronary artery which then can lead to a heart attack at a young age or later in their lifetime. The child may also encounter myocarditis, mitral regurgitation, or dysrhythmia.
Overall, the Kawasaki syndrome is a disease that no expert knows the origin of but they do know that it is not contagious and it is treatable. The Kawasaki syndrome, however, can not be prevented. After the treatment of the Kawasaki syndrome, most children recover easily and completely. However, 1 out of 100 people that are diagnosed with the Kawasaki syndrome die from heart problems. It is suggested that a patients that has had the Kawasaki disease take an echocardiogram every one to two years to check if there are any heart problems present.
While it is rare to have a diagnosis in children younger than 12 years of age, it does happen. Average age of onse...
During a physical examination, a specialist may hear a heart murmur which will prompt a referral to a pediatric cardiologist for an analysis. Diagnostic testing will vary by the child’s age, clinical condition, and institutional preferences. Such test may incorporate a chest X-ray, electrocardiogram, echocardiography and cardiac catheterization. A chest X-ray uses unseen X-ray beams to cr...
Spinal Muscular Atrophy affects about 8 out of every 100,000 live births and also causes death among more babies than any other genetic disease out there. About one in every forty people has this gene in them but may not have SMA so they are a genetic carrier. But in order for a child to have SMA, both parents have to carry the mutated gene and passed it to the child. Therefore this causes the child to have double copies of the abnormal gene. About 1 in 40 men and 1 in 80 women are carriers of the gene.
Sudden infant death syndrome ( SIDS) is the greatest cause of infant deaths ranging from ages one month to one year. Most of these deaths occur before the age of six months. Normally, any unexplainable infant death is considered to be due to SIDS. Numerous attempts have been made to discover the exact cause of this syndrome. However,the only known pathology is that SIDS is due to a dysfunction or abnormality in the cardiac and/or respiratory systems. To this point, an exact and definite cause has not been named. This paper will attempt to present several of the proposed and hypothesized causes of SIDS.
The majority of clinical cases of laminitis occur at pasture where there is an accumulation of rapidly fermentable non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) such as fructans, simple sugars or starches (Geor, 2010). Pasture-associated laminitis has major economic and welfare implications in the equine sector. Increased risk factors include insulin resistance, increased insulin secretory response, hypertriglyceridaemia and obesity (Asplin, et al., 2007;Carter, et al., 2009 and de Laat, et al., 2010). Insulin resistance has been associated with a number of problems in the horse, most notably laminitis. Insulin resistance can be defined as a physiological condition in which cells have a diminished response to normal actions of the hormone insulin. Insulin is produced but the cells become resistant and are less capable in transporting glucose from the bloodstream to muscle and other tissues. In horses, insulin resistance is associated with a number of diseases such as Equine Metabolic Syndrome (Powell, et al., 2002; Hoffman, et al., 2003;Vick, et al., 2006 and Frank, et al., 2009), Equine Cushing Disease (McGowan, et al., 2004 and Walsh, et al., 2009) and Laminitis (Treiber, et al., 2006;Bailey, et al., 2007;McGowan, 2008 and Geor, 2008). Obesity and insulin resistance in ponies has become a common problem and there is a growing awareness on the role that diet and exercise has to play (Jeffcott, et al., 1986; Frank, et al., 2006 and Vick & Adams, 2007). Over-expressed adipocytokines, such as leptin, have been suggested to impair insulin signalling and cause the up regulation of inflammatory cytokines. This then further contributes to impaired insulin signalling and endothelial dysfunction (Radin, et al., 2009). The restriction of energy throu...
Batten disease is not contagious or preventable (up to today). To date it has always been fatal.
Polio is a viral disease. It cripples thousands of people and infects even more every year. Even though millions are inoculated, and the polio disease has been successfully purged from hundreds of countries still thousands of people and developing countries are infected and still people are dying. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) polio affects the Central Nervous System, or CNS; by infesting the intestines and transmitting it into the nerves thought the blood vessels. There the virus spreads through the nerve cells to the brain stem or other motor units, while forever damaging the nerves.
The third type affecting 10% of children with JRA is Systematic JRA, which affects the whole body. Rashes may appear and disappear, the lymph nodes and spleen may swell, accompanied by a high fever and eventually leading to swelling of the joints causing stiffness and pain.
The disease has an unpredictable clinical course. This means it’s hard to give a prognosis in any single patient.
In order to learn about Kawasaki disease we must look at its history. Kawasaki disease was simultaneously discovered around the world between 1960 and 1970. Kawasaki disease also known as Kawasaki Syndrome or Mucocutaneous lymph node Syndrome was discovered by Japanese pediatrician Tamisaku Kawasaki; hence the name Kawasaki Disease.However, KD was independently recognized as a distinct condition in the early 1970’s by pediatricians Marian Melish and Raquel Hicks at the University of Hawaii. Dr. Tamisaku Kawasaki saw his first case in the early 1960’s; subsequently, he published his first findings in Japanese in 1967 then, in 1974 he published the English version. Though it wasn’t recognized as an aggressive syndrome, it was associated with serious complications of the coronary arteries. Nevertheless,extensive research into understanding the outcome based on publications on the origin, pathophysiology, epidemiology, and treatment.
A disease or a disorder for the blood vessels can be fatal. The coronary arteries supply and maintain the myocardium. Coronary artery disease can cause a heart attack or hypertension when blood vessels get small or filled up with cholesterol, scar tissue, or calcium. Other problems can happen also. For instance disorders for the heart valves or for the heart muscle and pericardium.
Obesity is strongly associated with diseases of the heart and blood vessels in many ways (Smith 5). Firstly, obese people are more probable to develop atherosclerosis, which is a hardening of the arteries occurring when there is a build-up of fat, cholesterol, and other substances in the body. It is proven that atherosclerosis is more prevalent in obese individuals than individuals who are not. This condition can lead to a myocardial infarction, or what we call a heart attack. After a heart attack, it is very difficult for one to recuperate, especially a child. Following a heart attack, the heart is damaged and may not be able to pump sufficient amounts of blood throughout your body and death or disability may occur.
Neurofibromatosis (NF) is a genetic disorder of the nervous system. This can cause tumors to form on the nerves anywhere in the body at any time. Neurofibromatosis affects all races, all ethnic groups and both sexes equally. NF if one of the most common genetic disorders in the United States. NF has three genetically distinct forms are NF1, NF2 and Schwannomatosis.
“Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute, systemic vasculitis in children, with an etiology that is not completely understood” (Lau). Meaning, the cause of the disease is unknown. Although the disease itself it not contagious,
Kawasaki Syndrome (KS) is an acute, generalized systemic vasculitis of unknown etiology that often involves the coronary arteries, indicating KS as a main causative factor of acquired heart disease in American children (). KS causes more than 5,000 hospitalizations per year with 75%-85% of cases occurring in children younger than 5 years of age ().