Kawasaki disease
A medium-vessel vasculitis of unknown trigger inflames arteries throughout the body, producing a constellation of mucocutaneous signs that spell CRASH-and-burn, and the reason it cannot be missed is that the same process can destroy the coronary arteries.
First principles
It is a vasculitis, not an infection, even though it looks infective
Kawasaki disease is an inflammatory vasculitis affecting medium-sized arteries, triggered in a genetically susceptible child by an unknown (possibly infective) stimulus that provokes an abnormal immune response against the vessel wall. Because inflamed vessels supply skin, mucosa and lymphoid tissue throughout the body, the child looks unwell with a high, persistent fever and a rash, mimicking a viral exanthem or bacterial infection, but no organism is found, and the illness does not respond to antibiotics, because the pathology is the immune attack on arteries, not a pathogen.
Educational content pending clinical review. Not medical advice.