Afebrile Kawasaki disease with coronary artery dilatation

Abstract

Herein we describe the cases of two afebrile patients who were thought to have Kawasaki disease (KD). Patient 1 was a 7-month-old-Japanese girl. She presented with bulbar conjunctival injection, diarrhea, skin erythema, and redness around the bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) inoculation site. Thirteen days after the first symptoms, ultrasonic cardiogram (UCG) showed dilatations of the bilateral coronary arteries (CA). The dilatations had completely resolved 5 months later. Patient 2 was a 13-month-old Japanese boy. He first presented with bulbar conjunctival injection and redness around the BCG inoculation site. Twenty-two days after the first symptoms, UCG indicated bilateral and peripheral CA dilatations. The mild dilatations of the proximal CA remained. Although fever is the principal symptom of KD, some incomplete KD patients may be afebrile. Although it is difficult to diagnose these patients as having KD, redness at the BCG inoculation site may be a clue to the diagnosis.

Keywords: Kawasaki disease; afebrile; bacillus Calmette-Guerin; coronary artery dilation; heat shock protein.