Kawasaki disease (KD), or Kawasaki syndrome, is a severe illness characterized by inflammation of blood vessels throughout the body that primarily affects young children and infants.
Kawasaki disease symptoms usually appear in three phases. Because there is no specific test for KD, doctors make a clinical diagnosis based on a set of symptoms and physical findings.
KD is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in U.S. children, but with effective treatment, only a small percentage of KD patients have lasting coronary artery damage.
