Doctors have scratched their heads for decades to find what causes a disease that affects up to one-hundred children a year in Hawaii.
Now – the answer may be blowing in the wind.
Kawasaki disease is the leading cause of heart disease in children in the U.S. and most of these patients are younger than age five.
This month researchers announced they discovered that the numbers of cases peaked when north-west winds blew over Japan and then to Hawaii and California.
"We’re looking now at what is carried in those winds, to see what bacteria, spores, other things we can use to find a cause of the disease," says Dr. Marian E. Melish, Professor of Pediatrics.
The disease is known to peak during the winter and early spring and is most common in children of Japanese and Korean ancestry.
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
