What Causes Kawasaki Disease?
Although KD was discovered in the late 1960s, the cause for the illness has yet to be determined. Most experts do believe that viral or bacterial infections are to blame, but there is also a hereditary tendency. This may explain why children with Asian ancestry tend to be at a greater risk of developing Kawasaki disease than those of another ethnicity. However, any race or ethnicity can develop KD.
Additionally, siblings of a KD patient have a greater risk—around 10-fold—of developing Kawasaki disease. This also hints to a shared genetic tendency. Furthermore, when children who had KD become adults and have their own children, that child has a very high risk of getting Kawasaki syndrome, too. Children under 5 years of age are at the greatest risk.
