Kawasaki's disease and infantile polyarteritis nodosa: is Pseudomonas infection responsible? Report of a case

A nineteen-month-old child presented with a febrile illness, skin rash, painful swelling of the joints, lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly. Pseudomonas was cultured from the blood during life and, subsequently, at autopsy. Autopsy revealed a generalized panarteritis involving the coronary, retroperitoneal and pulmonary arteries with thickening of arterial walls and narrowing of the lumina. Thrombi and foci of necrosis and infarcts were found in many organs. Numerous bacilli were present in fresh lesions, but not in the organizing lesions. Periodic acid-Schiff-positive deposits were found in occasional macrophages, in walls of affected vessels, in the marginal sinuses of lymph nodes and diffusely in epicardial and retroperitoneal adipose tissue. The findings suggest that some or even all cases of Kawasaki's disease and infantile polyarteritis nodosa may be caused by Pseudomonas sepsis. It is also suggested that the vasculitis and paucity of inflammatory reaction in many cases of Pseudomonas sepsis might be related to the fact that many strains of Pseudomonas produce high-molecular-weight levan (or another polysaccharide). This compound is known to inhibit the inflammatory reaction and to increase bacterial pathogenicity.