What on earth is Kawasaki disease? That was one mum’s reaction when her baby came down with this serious but little-known illness. She shares her story with EVELINE GAN.
What on earth is Kawasaki disease? That was one mum’s reaction when her baby came down with this serious but little-known illness. She shares her story with EVELINE GAN.
When one of her twins came down with a sudden high fever, Nathalie Yan thought it was just a regular virus. But paracetamol and antibiotics didn’t help. “The temperature continued to climb above 39 deg C,” Nathalie recalls. “Instinctively, I felt that something wasn’t right and asked for my baby to be hospitalised.” Her decision not to wait out the fever saved four-month-old Elisabeth’s life. By the third day, the whites of her eyes and lips turned frighteningly scarlet. She also developed rashes on her genitals and had diarrhoea. Then, the doctors broke the bad news: It was Kawasaki disease. “My first reaction was: What’s that? I had never heard of it,” says the first-time mum, 36, a human resources manager. Nathalie found out enough from the Internet for panic to kick in. The serious childhood illness, which affects mainly younger kids under the age of five, causes small and medium-sized blood vessels in the body to become in amed. According to Elisabeth’s doctor, the condition makes one feels like the body is “on fire”. “That was probably how my baby felt when she was sick. She stopped eating, cried a lot and was extremely irritable,” she shares. As Nathalie struggled to relieve her little one’s discomfort, her mind reeled from the possibility that the disease might also cause long-term health issues like heart problems – or worse, death – when not treated in time. She had learnt that young babies, particularly those under six months old, have a higher chance of developing heart complications from Kawasaki disease.
Treated in time
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) sees about 120 to 150 new cases of this illness each year, with nine in 10 under the age of five. Of this group, 40 per cent are babies under the age of one. Studies show that when left untreated, one in four children with Kawasaki disease develop coronary aneurysms, says Associate Professor Tan Teng Hong, head and senior consultant at Cardiology Service, department of paediatric subspecialties at KKH. A coronary aneurysm, which happens when part of the blood vessel of the heart enlarges abnormally, is dangerous because it can cause heart attacks and other serious heart complications. With timely treatment, the risk drops to about 5 per cent and most children make a full recovery, adds Prof Tan. Although Elisabeth was well enough to be discharged after her fever subsided, she continued to be cranky and irritable for weeks after. The five-day hospital stay, where she underwent a barrage of tests and had to be put on a drip, was so traumatic for the little one that she became very insecure and clingy. “Until today, seeing the doctor scares her. Whenever she realises we’re heading towards the clinic, she’ll turn and run away,” Nathalie says. It took a good two to three months before Elisabeth’s appetite returned to normal. “It was a particularly difficult period for us as our immediate families were not in Singapore to lend us support. There was also very little information online about the disease back then.” Nathalie says she was fortunate to have stumbled upon a local Facebook page set up by a mum whose child had the disease. They later connected through social media. “It was very comforting to speak to another mum who has had a similar experience,” she says. With a few other parents, they have since formed a local support group (see Could it be Kawasaki?) to raise awareness, as well as lend support by phone or e-mail to families affected by the disease.
Heart disease worries
At KKH, children who have had Kawasaki disease without heart complications undergo two to three follow-up heart ultrasound scans. If they come back normal, regular heart scans are no longer necessary, says Prof Tan. Elisabeth, now aged three, has been given the all-clear by her doctors. Still, Nathalie worries about her daughter’s future health. Prof Tan says: “At the moment, the studies available are unable to confirm if children who have had Kawasaki disease – with no heart complications – face a higher risk of getting heart disease later in life.” Understandably, Nathalie gets nervous every time her twins come down with a high fever. “There’s a chance that it might come back. If it does, the risk of Elisabeth getting heart problems might be higher. The disease could be genetic, so we are extra careful with her younger twin, too.” After her daughter’s experience, Nathalie urges parents to be persistent in seeking answers for their children’s unexplained high fevers, especially if they don’t seem to get better with medication. “One couple, who is part of our support group, lost their child to Kawasaki disease this year. It’s very heartbreaking,” she says. “My child is lucky that her condition was caught in time, and that it also reacted well to treatment. Having gone through this, we hope that other parents know what to look out for because when treated early, the chance of recovery is high.”
Could it be Kawasaki?
Viral fever in children typically lasts three to four days. Associate Professor Tan Teng Hong from KKH points out that you should alert the doctor if your little one shows some or all of these symptoms:
● A persistent fever (above 38.5 deg C) that lasts longer than four to five days, especially one that doesn’t respond to medication prescribed by a general practitioner
● Red eyes
● Cracked lips and swollen tongue (often described as “strawberry tongue”)
● Skin rash
● Swollen lymph nodes in the neck
● Swelling and peeling of skin on the hands and feet
If your child has the disease, you may want to join the Kawasaki Disease Support Group Singapore. Visit its Facebook page at www.fb.com/KawasakiDisease SupportGroupSingapore.
