Coronary artery complications are the most severe complications in Kawasaki disease (KD). Its cause is unclear but superantigens are considered to influence KD. This study aimed to determine whether coronary artery complications and level of Nterminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) in patients with KD. We studied 142 pediatric patients diagnosed with KD. MP immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody examination was conducted. All patients underwent echocardiography, and coronary artery dilatation was defined as a coronary Z-score >2.0. We also evaluated their NT-proBNP findings. The independent t-test and Pearson chi-squared test were used to analyze betweengroup differences; a p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Forty children were MP IgM positive. MP IgMpositive patients were older than MP IgM-negative patients. There was no significant difference in the clinical manifestations between the groups. Comparison of the mean Z-score of the coronary artery revealed that only the Z-score of the left anterior descending artery was significantly different between the groups. However, the number of patients with coronary artery dilatation was not significantly different between the groups. Our findings demonstrated no relationship between MP infection and coronary artery dilatation or NT-proBNP levels in patients with KD.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of acute respiratory viral infection on Kawasaki disease. From July 2016 to June 2018, among the patients who underwent respiratory virus screening at the Kwangju Christian Hospital, those diag-nosed 88 patients with Kawasaki disease were enrolled in this study. The effects of acute respiratory viral infection on Ka-wasaki disease were compared according to whether 2nd intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment was administered or not, and whether coronary artery complications occurred. Respiratory virus was detected in 44 out of 88 patients. 2nd IVIG treatment rates were 16% (n=7) and 27% (n=12) in the virus positive group and the virus negative group, respectively (p>0.05). The incidence of coronary artery complications was 11% (n=5) and 25% (n=11) in the virus positive group and the virus negative group, respectively (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant correlation between the 2nd IVIG admin-istration and coronary artery complications following the detection of respiratory virus in patients with Kawasaki disease. We think it is necessary to actively study the effects of acute respiratory viral infection on Kawasaki disease through large-scale studies of multiple centers in the future.

This study aimed to analyze difference in clinical findings, including coronary artery complications, in patients with Kawasaki disease and respiratory symptoms with several respiratory infections. We studied 182 pediatric patients diagnosed with Kawasaki disease. Examinations for respiratory viral polymerase chain reaction were conducted in the group of patients with respiratory symptoms. Echocardiography was perfomed by a pediatric cardiologist, and laboratory findings were evaluated. Clinical manifestations and laboratory findings based on medical records were compared. There were no differences between patients with and without respiratory viral infections with respect to age, male-female ratio, coronary artery complications, Kawasaki disease-specific clinical manifestations, duration of fever, duration of hospitalization, or recurrence rate. There was a significant difference in C-reactive protein levels (55.6 vs. 73.9 mg/L) between the two groups, but the other laboratory findings. The rate of respiratory infections in pediatric patients with Kawasaki disease was similar to those reported in previous studies, and clinical manifestations and laboratory findings were not significantly different between the groups.