Evaluation of the Temporal Association between Kawasaki Disease and Viral Infections in South Korea

This study is aimed at elucidating potential temporal associations between the occurrence of Kawasaki disease (KD) and various viral infections. We obtained monthly patterns of KD from the seventh nationwide survey and viral detection data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2009 to 2011 and evaluated temporal correlations between them for each month. The respiratory viruses detected using a multiplex real-time-polymerase chain reaction kit were influenza virus (A/H1N1, A/H3N2, A/H5N1, and B), adenovirus, parainfluenza virus (type 1, 2, 3), respiratory syncytial virus (type A, B), human rhinovirus, human coronavirus (OC43/229E, NL63), human bocavirus, and enterovirus. We obtained data from a total of 13031 patients who were treated for acute KD from 87 hospitals with pediatric residence programs. During this survey, KD showed highest overall incidence in summer and winter seasons and lowest incidence in February and October. We received viral detection data for a total of 14267 patients. Viral detection was highest during winter and spring seasons. The most commonly detected virus was human rhinovirus (32.6%), followed by influenza virus (26.8%). The monthly incidence of KD showed significant correlation with the monthly overall viral detection (p=0.022, r=0.382). In particular, human bocavirus and enterovirus have significant correlations with monthly patterns of KD occurrence (p=0.032 and p=0.007, respectively) and influenza virus correlated with KD occurrence with borderline significance (p=0.063). The temporal association between monthly occurrence of KD and viral detection suggests the etiologic importance of precedent infection in the development of KD.