Mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome (MLNS): A disease widespread in Japan which demands our attention

Abstract

In 1967 Kawasaki of Tokyo [Japan] described 50 cases of a seemingly self-limited disease syndrome of infants and young children, which he designated as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome (MLNS). A typical, but hypothetical, case of MLNS is described. In 1974 MLNS lost its all-Japanese flavor when Melish, Hicks and Larson reported 9 cases from Hawaii [USA], occurring in children of multiple races. Careful study of the details of morphologic findings in reports of fatal MLNS from Japan showed that the structural alterations of fatal MLNS are indeed indistinguishable from those of IPN (infantile polyarteritis nodosa).