ABC 7: Clues Emerge on Possible Cause of Kawasaki Disease Amid Rising Cases in Young Children

ABC 7 recently interviewed Moshe Arditi, MD, executive vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics for Research at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s, about an increase in cases of Kawasaki disease. The rare condition causes swelling and inflammation of the blood vessels and primarily affects children under 5.

Arditi, who holds the GUESS?/Fashion Industries Guild Chair in Community Child Health, told ABC 7 correspondent Denise Dador that the disease can cause heart complications.

“It has been the leading cause of acquired heart disease among children, as opposed to congenital heart disease,” Arditi told Dador.

Symptoms include a high fever that lasts for at least five days, a red rash, swollen hands and feet, red eyes, and a red tongue with white spots.

Arditi said that Cedars-Sinai has seen a 50% increase in Kawasaki disease cases this year.

“Typically, [we] see two to three cases, and now we already have seen six cases,” Arditi told Dador.

Experts are not sure exactly what causes the condition, but research points to an infection acting as a catalyst in children with a genetic predisposition to developing the disease.

Arditi, who also is the director of the Infectious and Immunological Diseases Research Center in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and a professor of Pediatrics, told Dador about a recent study he co-authored related to Kawasaki disease. His research found that blocking an inflammatory protein in the body can help improve heart conditions caused by the disease in children who do not respond to standard treatments.

“We can really decrease the chances for the child to get lasting heart disease,” Arditi told Dador.

Click here to watch the entire segment on ABC 7.