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Kawasaki disease, could be related to wind currents
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Kawasaki disease is a severe childhood illness that most parents and even some doctors mistake for a common viral infection. In fact, if Kawasaki disease is not diagnosed and treated in time, it can lead to irreversible damage to the heart muscle. Over the past 50 years, through numerous studies, including genetic ones, scientists have not been able to determine the exact cause of the disease.
An international team of scientists, led by Jane K. Burns of Rady Hospital in San Diego, USA, suggests that cases of Kawasaki disease are linked to large-scale wind currents that travel from Asia to Japan and across the North Pacific Ocean.
"Our study shows the influence of environmental mechanisms such as wind on the development of Kawasaki disease," Burns said. The paper is published in the journal Nature.
Symptoms of Kawasaki disease include prolonged fever, skin rash, signs of conjunctivitis, redness of the mouth, lips and tongue, swelling of the hands and feet. In 1/4 of untreated cases, the disease is accompanied by damage to the coronary arteries and can lead to serious heart problems in adulthood. To date, there are no specific diagnostic criteria for Kawasaki disease. Treatment is not able to prevent damage to the coronary arteries in one in 10 children. Fatal cases are recorded in 1 case out of 1000.
Although seasonality of the disease has been noted in many regions - particularly in Japan, the country with the highest incidence of Kawasaki disease - the search for factors that might contribute to the spread of Kawasaki disease has remained unsuccessful. In a study of Kawasaki disease cases in Japan since 1970, three dramatic nationwide epidemics have been noted, each lasting several months and peaking in April 1979 (6,700 cases), May 1982 (16,100 cases), and March 1986 (14,700 cases). These three peaks represent the largest Kawasaki disease epidemics ever recorded in the world.
To study the possible influence of large-scale environmental factors, scientists analyzed a number of atmospheric and oceanographic parameters that showed the relationship between atmospheric pressure and wind flows. It turned out that during the summer months before the onset of epidemics, there was a large-scale movement of air masses from the earth's surface to the middle layers of the troposphere.
"The data from the Japan Meteorological Service showed that the low incidence of Kawasaki disease coincided with a period of southerly winds during the summer months," said Rodeau, the project leader. "The peaks in incidence coincided with southeasterly winds blowing from Asia," Burns said.
It is important to note that after the three epidemics, the subsequent increase in Kawasaki disease cases in Japan was associated with the strengthening of local northwesterly winds, resulting from the concentration of low pressure in the north.
Burns says the findings may further identify and isolate the cause of this devastating childhood illness. "It may be that the infectious agent that causes Kawasaki disease is transported across the ocean by strong air currents," she said, adding that the role of pollutants and inert particles in the disease cannot be ignored. These hypotheses are currently being investigated.
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