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Doctors have struggled for decades to understand why thousands of children a year in the U.S. get Kawasaki disease, a rare condition that can cause serious heart damage if untreated, but is often mistaken for an everyday virus.

Now, a team of international scientists have announced the surprising finding that the answer may be blowing in the wind. The team’s leader, Dr. Jane C. Burns, professor of pediatrics and director of the Kawasaki Disease Research Center at the University of California San Diego, says cases of the disease are linked to large-scale wind currents whipping throughout Asia to Japan and around the North Pacific.

The disease causes a prolonged fever, blood-shot eyes, red lips, red tongue, and also red, swollen hands and feet with peeling skin. Since early symptoms resemble those of the flu, it’s often misdiagnosed – and there isn’t a diagnostic test for it.

Parents should seek medical attention and ask about Kawasaki disease if fever lasts beyond five days and is associated with rash, red eyes and lipshttp://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/10/8734910-kawasaki-disease-may-be-blowing-in-the-wind-researchers-say