At the Kawasaki Disease Clinic at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, led by Dr. Burns, the care of children affected by Kawasaki disease is always linked to finding the cause.
On a recent Wednesday morning, Dr. Kirsten Dummer, a pediatric cardiologist, was examining the heart scans of a 2-year-old boy who showed signs of a large aneurysm on the right side of the heart.
“The biggest question for parents is: How did this happen? How did my son get this? In every patient room, that is what they fundamentally want to know,” she stated. “Year after year, they come back and ask us, ‘Do you know more?’”
Dr. Burns, who has continued to see patients, said those questions motivated her.
“If we were all doctors in the lab working on the etiology of Kawasaki disease,” the pace would be different, Dr. Burns said. “But it’s urgent, because we go back and forth, from the lab to the patients, saying, ‘Damn, I need to answer this question.’ It matters because it matters to these people.”
Later that morning, Inez Maldonado Diega, a 4-year-old girl dressed as a mermaid, scooped out Play-Doh balls with her mother as Dr. Burns delivered the news. Seventeen days ago, the girl’s pediatrician’s office had passed on her case of Kawasaki disease. An echocardiogram had come back clear, a sign that her heart was healthy so far, but she still had a fever, which meant the illness could persist.
“I wish we had seen her sooner,” Dr. Burns said, listening to Inez’s heartbeat. He requested genetic samples for her biobank from both Inez and her mother, explaining that children are believed to inherit susceptibility to the disease from her parents.
Inez’s mother, Tiara Diega, assured Dr. Burns that she had never had Kawasaki disease as a child, only scarlet fever. Dr. Burns raised her eyebrows and asked Ms. Diega to call her mother on speaker.
Had Mrs. Diega had bloodshot eyes during her infection all those years ago? she asked her mother. Yes, her mother said. Dr. Burns exhaled slowly.
“That wasn’t scarlet fever,” he said.
For a moment, the room was silent (Ms. Diega still holding a Play-Doh burger in the air) as the risks to mother and daughter became clear. Dr Burns then referred Ms Diega for her own heart scan. to see if a serious danger had been brewing all these years.
Audio produced by Tally Abecassis.
