Kawasaki disease in a Sudanese family.

Kawasaki disease (mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome) is an acute inflammatory multisystem disease of children. The acute phase of the disease is characterized by high grade fever, conjunctivitis, exanthematous skin rash and non-suppurative lymph node enlargement. The subacute phase follows with the manifestations of arthritis, myocarditis and thrombocytosis. The disease is self-limiting in most children but is associated with coronary artery aneurysms in 15-20% of cases. The aetiology is unknown, but results of epidemiological studies suggest that an unidentified infectious agent might be the causative factor. Since the first description of the disease by the Japanese doctor, Tomisaku Kawasaki, in 1967 and his report for the English literature in 1974, thousands of cases have been reported worldwide. The highest prevalence is found in Japan and among the Japanese in Hawaii, followed by the United States. Although the disease was first reported in Africa in 1979, to date only four cases have been reported there. The following account reviews the literature and describes the manifestations of Kawasaki disease as seen in two siblings in Khartoum, Sudan.