THE ETIOLOGY AND PATHOGENESIS OF KAWASAKI-DISEASE - HOW CLOSE ARE WE TO AN ANSWER

Kawasaki disease is an acute vasculitis of young children complicated by coronary artery abnormalities. Complications from Kawasaki disease can be significantly reduced by treating patients with high-dose intra venous immune globulin, Early recognition and prompt treatment is crit ical for a successful outcome, This process would be facilitated if th e etiological agent causing Kawasaki disease were identified, Recent s tudies suggest that superantigen(s) play an important role in stimulat ing the immune activation associated with Kawasaki disease, These obse rvations provide an important new direction for investigations into th e pathogenesis of Kawasaki disease.