川崎富作氏死去　乳幼児の「川崎病」発見

　全身の血管に炎症が生じる「川崎病」を初めて発見した小児科医で、ＮＰＯ法人日本川崎病研究センター名誉理事長の川崎富作（かわさき・とみさく）氏が５日、老衰のため東京都内の病院で死去した。９５歳。東京都出身。葬儀は近親者で済ませた。後日「お別れの会」を開く。
　川崎病は乳幼児を中心に全身の血管に炎症が生じるなどする。川崎氏は１９６１年に初めてこの病気に遭遇し、６７年に学会誌に発表したことで知られるようになった。川崎氏は日本赤十字社医療センターの小児科部長などを歴任した。
　今年に入り、川崎病に類似した症状で治療を受ける子どもが欧米で増加。新型コロナウイルスと関連がある可能性が指摘されている。
　９１年に日本学士院賞、２００６年に日本小児科学会賞を受賞した。（2020/06/10-15:38）

Tomisaku Kawasaki, the pediatrician who discovered Kawasaki disease, which causes the swelling of blood vessels throughout the bodies of infants and young children, died of old age at a Tokyo hospital last Friday. He was 95.
   A funeral for the honorary head of the nonprofit Japan Kawasaki Disease Research Center has already been held by his close relatives. A farewell event will take place at a later date.
   Kawasaki, a Tokyoite, first encountered the disease in 1961. Kawasaki disease came to be known after the doctor published his research on it in an academic journal in 1967. He served in such posts as head of the Pediatrics Department of the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center.
   Since earlier this year, there has been a rise in the number of children in Europe and the United States who are receiving treatments for symptoms that resemble Kawasaki disease. Some point to a possible link between the symptoms and the novel coronavirus that has been causing the COVID-19 disease across the globe.
   Kawasaki received the Japan Academy Prize in 1991 and the Japan Pediatric Society award in 2006.