Comment Section for A Doctor’s Lifelong Quest to Solve One of Pediatric Medicine’s Greatest Mysteries - The New York Times

This New York Times article profiles the work of Dr. Jane Burns, who has dedicated her 40-year career to uncovering the cause of Kawasaki disease, a mysterious illness that can lead to aneurysms and heart attacks, particularly in children. Kawasaki disease, which often manifests as a high fever, rash, red cracked lips, and a "strawberry tongue", is the most common cause of acquired heart disease in children worldwide. Dr. Burns leads the investigations at the University of California San Diego’s Kawasaki Disease Research Center, which holds the world’s largest biobank of Kawasaki disease samples. Her research suggests that the disease might be hereditary and triggered by environmental factors such as viral, bacterial, or toxic exposure, possibly even influenced by global warming. Dr. Burns has assembled a diverse team, including a climatologist, statistician, cardiologist, historian, forensic pathologist, microbiologist, and anthropologist, to solve the disease's enigma. Her team's findings indicate that the disease may not be transmitted from person to person but could be carried across the globe by wind currents. The disease rate is alarmingly increasing in Japan and the United States. The pandemic provided an unexpected experiment: while most respiratory viruses almost disappeared during social distancing, Kawasaki disease rates only fell by 28%, suggesting the disease's cause might be linked to domestic environments. Dr. Burns hopes to find the disease's cause, leading to diagnostic tests that can prevent further deaths.