The Impact of Social Distancing for COVID-19 Upon Diagnosis of Kawasaki Disease. (23rd March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shulman, Stanford; Geevarghese, Bessey; Kim, Kwang-Youn; Rowley, Anne
• Is Part Of: Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. Volume 10:Number 6(2021)
• Page Start: 742
• Page End: 744
• Publication Date: 2021-03-23
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- Kawasaki disease -- mitigation -- respiratory transmission -- social distancing; Communicable diseases in children -- Periodicals; Children -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 618.929
• DOI: 10.1093/jpids/piab013
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2048-7193

Abstract

Abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mitigation policies have been associated with profound decreases in diagnoses of common childhood respiratory infections. A leading theory of etiology of Kawasaki disease (KD) is that it is triggered by presently unidentified ubiquitous respiratory agent. We document that mitigation policies instituted in mid-March 2020 were associated with strikingly fewer diagnoses of KD in April-December 2020 compared with the same period in the previous 8 years ( P = .01), a >67% decline. This finding supports the hypothesis that KD is caused by a respiratory-transmitted agent.