My daughter had Kawasaki disease when she was six years old and unfortunately it affected her heart at the time.
She had to take aspirin for three years and had regular heart scans.
Her scans now show her to have a perfectly normal heart with no signs of any previous damage.
What can you tell me about this disease? Is there likely to be any repercussions for her in the future?
Would a medical examiner for example, mark her as unfit if her condition was known to them?
She leads a completely normal life now and is very active with her sports, etc.
Kawasaki disease was first described in Japan in 1967.
It is a distinctive illness characterised by a high temperature, redness of the eyes, a widespread red rash, redness and swelling of the hands and feet and enlarged lymph nodes in the neck.
This strange-sounding disease occurs usually in children under the age of five, with the peak age of between 18 and 24 months.
Nobody yet knows what causes it, although many of its features suggest some sort of infection.
The first thing that happens is a rise in temperature, plus pus in the urine, red eyes, a very red tongue, dry cracked lips, a rash, swollen hands and feet and enlarged nodes.
If blood tests are carried out, the liver tests are abnormal.
In the second stage of the disease the skin of the fingers and toes begins to peel and some arthritis and heart problems can occur at this stage, between day 10 and day 21 of the illness beginning.
The heart problems may leave some weak areas in the coronary arteries (the arteries which supply the heart muscle with blood) and it is these weak areas which can, in a very few cases, lead to a heart attack.
There follows a convalescence phase when all the clinical signs start to disappear and the laboratory tests return to normal.
The treatment that your daughter had was entirely correct, but, in addition to the aspirin some patients are given antibiotics to begin with until a bacterial infection is excluded.
Some authorities now give immunoglobulin in the first 10 days of this illness, which lowers the risk of cardiac complications.
The complications that you are asking about in particular are the weakness that develops in the coronary arteries, but even in severe cases the mortality rate is only half a per cent.
The good news is that most children like your daughter will make a complete recovery with no future ill effects.
Since all her heart scans have been normal and she is so active, this is a disease you can now put out of your mind and look forward to a healthy future for your daughter.
The NetDoctor Medical Team