Epidemiologic study of Kawasaki disease and cases resistant to IVIG therapy in Thailand

The incidence of Kawasaki disease (KD) in Thailand has never been studied before. We reviewed the data from the National Registry of Thai Children who had KD between 1998-2002 to evaluate the incidence of KD and cases resistant to treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). Resistance to IVIG was defined as remaining febrile at least 48 hours after initial IVIG therapy. There were 710 KD patients in the registry. The incidence of KD was from 2.14 to 3.43 cases per 100,000 children aged 0-5 years. During the acute phase 15.6% of 435 patients were considered as resistant cases. Resistant cases of KD in Thai children are quite common (15.6%) even after IVIG treatment. We found that patients who had high white blood cell counts (> 16,500 cells/mm³) had a higher likelihood of being resistant.