John Travolta’s son, who died Friday, suffered as a child from Kawasaki syndrome, an unusual but often treatable disease, local doctors say.
Recommended Stories
“It is fairly rare,” said Rakhee Palekar, a medical epidemiologist at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “We suspect it’s underreported because of the nature of the syndrome.”
About 20 to 25 cases have been reported in Maryland each year for the last few years, Palekar said.
More than 4,000 cases of the disease are diagnosed each year in the United States, and less than 1 percent of those who get it die, according to the American Heart Association.
Kawasaki syndrome, named after Tomisaku Kawasaki who first described the disease in Japan in 1967, shows up as a collection of symptoms involving inflammation of blood vessels. There are no specific tests for it, and the cause is not known, health officials said.
Jett Travolta, 16, had a history of seizures and was found unconscious in a bathroom Friday at a family vacation home in the Bahamas. Bahamian officials performed an autopsy on Monday, but the cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
The teen’s mother, actress Kelly Preston, has blamed household cleaners and fertilizers for the Kawasaki syndrome, for which he was diagnosed at the age of 2.
Some studies have looked at carpet cleaners or a particle in dust mites found in homes, but none conclusively found a cause for the disease, said Dr. Stacy Fisher of the Mid-Atlantic Cardiovascular Associates.
“People have always looked toward that type of bacteria, but it has never been found what it is or why some get it or why it’s not contagious,” she said.
The syndrome occurs mainly in children under the age of 5 and affects the skin and mucus membranes, said Dr. Getachew Teshome, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and medical director for pediatric emergency medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital for Children.
Symptoms include a fever that lasts more than five days; red eyes without a discharge; a red, swollen tongue called “strawberry tongue;” a severe rash on the hands and feet; and swollen lymph nodes around the neck, Teshome said.
“It’s not a debilitating disease. Most children recover from it,” said Teshome, who has treated a child with Kawasaki syndrome in the last month.
Treatment for the disease includes intravenous immunoglobulin, which is a blood product that helps prevent future heart complications. About a quarter of children with the syndrome develop a coronary aneurysm, which can later lead to heart attacks, he said.
However, Palekar said, “Most children don’t likely suffer any long term complications from it.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
