Kawasaki disease in East Mazandaran, Islamic Republic of Iran, 1997-2002.

We conducted a retrospective review of all cases of Kawasaki disease admitted to the major referral centres in Sari, East Mazandaran from 1 November 1997 to 30 October 2002. Of 29 probable cases, 25 were confirmed, giving an average annual incidence rate of 7.3 per 100 000 in children 0-5 years. The mean age of all cases was 38 months (range: 3.5-80 months). There was a male predominance. The mean time between the onset of illness and diagnosis was 8.2 +/- 3.1 days. Five of the 25 patients had cardiovascular abnormalities before treatment. All patients were treated with intravenous immunoglobulin and 22 (88%) responded to a single dose of treatment and high doses of acetylsalicylic acid; 2 patients needed a second dose of IVIG, and 1 patient required a third. Complete recovery was noted in all patients except for 1, who is under follow-up and treatment.