“We emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary care and recognition of the possibility of this syndrome across specialties, as provision of care for our patient necessitated coordinated efforts between specialists in emergency medicine, internal medicine, infectious diseases, cardiology, rheumatology, dermatology, and ophthalmology,” writes Dr. Alisa Fernia and colleagues.
“Pediatricians are well aware of Kawasaki disease and its clinical signs. However, internists in general have not seen this symptom complex and so many not recognize it,” says Jane Burns, MD, director of the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Diego.
Typically, the disease is seen in young children because the triggers for Kawasaki disease are widespread and create a response early in life, Dr. Burns says. For some adults, though, it seems the body’s immune response to COVID-19 can provoke a similar immune response.
Dr. Burns wasn’t involved with the current case report, but said she is reviewing several others involving both children and adults for medical journals.
“I suspect there are more of these cases out there that are being missed,” she tells Reuters Health by email. “The heart may be a target of inflammation and needs to be imaged, so it is important to recognize this newly emerging syndrome.”
Reference
- Sokolovsky S, Soni P, Hoffman T, et al. COVID-19 associated Kawasaki-like multisystem inflammatory disease in an adult. Am J Emerg Med. 2020 Jun 25;S0735-6757(20)30542-8.
