Rise in Kawasaki cases caused by pandemic

COVID is “almost certainly” behind a doubling in the number of children developing the deadly Kawasaki disease, experts believe.

Kawasaki disease is a condition which causes heart failure in children and occurs after infection, when blood vessels around the heart get inflamed.

Scientists found that Kawasaki was a delayed response to Covid infection where a child’s immune system went haywire and started attacking the host.

Dr Matthew Buckland, the spokesman for the British Society for Immunology, said: “The rise in Kawasaki disease was almost certainly due to Covid as other infections were less frequent in the community during this time.”