title: Familial occurrence of Kawasaki syndrome in North America.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe families with multiple members affected with Kawasaki syndrome (KS) to increase awareness of the familial occurrence of KS among practitioners who care for these patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review of medical records at 2 medical centers and data collection from remote KS families who contacted the KS Research Program at the University of California, San Diego.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen families with multiple affected members were identified. There were 9 families with 2 affected siblings. In San Diego, 3 (0.7%) of 424 KS families had sibling cases. Nine families were identified with KS in 2 generations or in multiple affected members, yielding a total of 24 KS-affected children. No clear pattern of inheritance could be deduced from these pedigrees, and it is likely that multiple polymorphic alleles influence KS susceptibility.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Physicians should counsel affected families and make them aware of the potential increased risk of KS among family members.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dergun
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: Sarmistha B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Hauger
authors.forename: Jane W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Newburger
authors.forename: Jane C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Burns
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001213:Asian / Q000235:genetics*; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000235:genetics; D009080:Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D010375:Pedigree; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D035781:Siblings / Q000208:ethnology; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics