Infectious disease: Causal agent of Kawasaki disease may be wind-borne
Scientific Reports
November 11, 2011
Incidence of Kawasaki disease may be linked to large-scale wind currents, which originate in central Asia and traverse the north Pacific, suggests a paper published in Scientific Reports. The causal agent for the disease remains unknown but the results provide a basis for testing the hypothesis that the environmental trigger is potentially distributed by the wind.
Kawasaki disease is an acute vasculitis that affects the coronary arteries. It mainly affects children under the age of five and is the most common cause of acquired childhood heart disease in Japan and the United States. Xavier Rodo and colleagues analyzed three major epidemics of Kawasaki disease in Japan; major, non-epidemic, inter-annual fluctuations of Kawasaki cases in Japan and San Diego; and seasonal variations of the disease in Japan, San Diego and Hawaii.
Fluctuations in numbers of Kawasaki cases appear to be associated with similar variations in wind circulation, the authors report. The peak in cases in each of the three locations is linked with a coherent seasonal shift in winds that simultaneously exposes Japan to air masses from central Asia, and Hawaii and California to air masses from the western north Pacific. The inter-annual analysis also suggests that the enhancement of this trans-Pacific circulation pattern may be associated with unusually high Kawasaki disease activity in Japan and San Diego.
doi: 10.1038/srep00152
Research highlights
-
Jun 24
Palaeontology: It sucked to be the prey of ancient cephalopodsScientific Reports
-
Jun 24
Sport science: New wearable sensor to measure neck strain may detect potential concussionScientific Reports
-
Jun 23
Scientific community: Women credited less than men in scientific paper authorshipNature
-
Jun 17
Conservation: Feral cats pushing critically endangered marsupial further towards extinctionScientific Reports
-
Jun 17
Health technology: New cost-effective smartphone test for middle ear functionCommunications Medicine
-
Jun 16
Microbiology: DNA analysis indicates origins of the Black DeathNature