Investigation of two outbreaks of Kawasaki syndrome (KS) in the United States in 1979 and in 1980 revealed no evidence of person-to-person transmission or of a common-source exposure among patients. Questionnaire data showed that KS was more likely to occur in children of middle and upper socioeconomic status than in those of lower status (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.001 for the respective outbreaks) and that patients with KS had a higher incidence of an antecedent, primarily respiratory illness than did controls matched for age, sex, and race (83% of patients in the first outbreak vs. 30% of one control group, P less than 0.01, and vs. 36% of another control group, P less than 0.02; and 56% of patients in the second outbreak vs. 32% of their controls, P less than 0.02). However, laboratory studies did not identify an etiologic agent for either KS or for the antecedent illness that may be a risk factor for KS.

The response of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and normal subjects to systemic immunization and boosting with influenza A vaccines was studied. Symptoms after vaccination were somewhat more frequent in the patients than in the normal subjects; however, all symptoms were minor and no major flare of illness occurred. No significant induction or increase of pre-existing autoantibodies among the patients was detected after vaccination. The immunogenecity of the vaccinations, as assessed by antibody titers, was similar in the patient and control groups. No correlation between serologic response to influenzal antigens and HLA was found. Thus, in this group of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, who were either in remission or had mild-to-moderate disease activity, killed influenzal vaccination caused no apparent worsening of disease activity.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract