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Indian Pediatr 2016;53: 438 |
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Kawasaki Disease in Jammu and Kashmir
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Mushtaq Bhat
Department of Pediatrics, SKIMS, Srinagar, Jammu and
Kashmir, India.
Email: [email protected]
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The article "Kawasaki Disease in India – Lessons Learnt over the Last 20
Years" is really a master piece regarding the diagnosis of Kawasaki
disease in India, and highlights how the presence of disease in Indian
children was ignored by people not accepting the views of the experts in
the field [1]. Authors of this manuscript are pioneers in Kawasaki
disease, and also help others in every nook and corner of the country to
diagnose this disease. Being an authority on Rheumatologic and
Immunological disease in children and still having to face ridicule,
criticism and sarcasm, one can imagine what others might have faced when
they tried to convince the people regarding the diagnosis of Kawasaki
disease in their states. At our institute, we diagnosed the first case
of Kawasaki disease in an 8-year-old girl in November, 1998 and
subsequently diagnosed or treated only 21 patients from 2004 to 2014
[2]. This is just a tip of Iceberg as we included only those patients
where treatment with intravenous immunoglobulins was given or
thrombocytosis or coronary artery aneurysm were documented. There were
scores of patients where the diagnosis was refuted when second opinion
was taken, or doubt was created in the parents’ mind regarding the
presence of disease in India and no treatment could be given. Since
these patients are not under any follow-up, the status of their coronary
arteries is unknown. The article just highlights the fact that mere
ignorance regarding any disease does not mean that disease does not
occur and many more patients would have been picked up, treated and
benefitted, had negativism and rivalry not come in between. The newer
generations of pediatricians in India need to be congratulated for
diagnosing patients even if posted in peripheries and health centers and
referring them to the apical centers in our state.
References
1. Surjeet S. Kawasaki T. Kawasaki disease in India –
Lessons learnt over the last 20 years. Indian Pediatr. 2016;53:119-24.
2. Bhat MA, Teli MA, Tramboo ZM, Din M, Rather HA.
Kawasaki disease in the state of Jammu and Kashmir: A decade of
experience. Indian J Rheumatol. 2015;10: 2008-11.
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