Kawasaki syndrome masquerading as bacterial lymphadenitis

Abstract

We present two case reports of older children who initially presented with cervical lymphadenitis and who were eventually diagnosed and treated for Kawasaki syndrome (KS). Both children presented with unilateral cervical lymphadenopathy and fever and later developed additional clinical features of KS, including cardiac aneurysms in one of the patients. Of the five KS clinical criteria which accompany fever for 5 days, cervical lymphadenopathy of > or = 1.5 cm is the least commonly found. Both patients were treated as having bacterial adenitis prior to the diagnosis of KS. We hope to illustrate that in the case of atypical cervical lymphadenitis, KS should be carefully considered in the differential diagnosis.