Kawasaki disease(川崎病) is every parent's nightmare(噩梦). This rare illness is the chief cause of acquired heart disease in babies and young children. Historically, it's been difficult for doctors to spot it, until recently, when a young inventor developed an app that can find it out. Ellen's invention does research on a photograph of the child and looks for clear signs of Kawasaki disease, like a swollen tongue. It's a great invention that likely wouldn't have come about if it all weren't so personal.
When Ellen, a San Diego native, was 5 years old, her parents rushed her kid sister to the hospital. Three-year-old Kate had a fever, reddened eyes and swelling in her hands and tongue.
At first the puzzled doctors guessed that Kate had a flu. But when her condition didn't improve, she returned to the Emergency Room, where she was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease and treated immediately. In time she shook off the illness without suffering damage to her heart, making her one of the lucky ones.
10 years later, Ellen, needing a project for a high school science fair, recalled her sister's illness. "It was a puzzle I wanted to solve," says Ellen, now a student at Stanford. So she set out to do just that. Using data, she invented an app that can identify the physical signs of Kawasaki disease from a photo. It works similarly to apps that can identify birds and plants. The app is expected to appear soon on the Kawasaki Disease Foundation's website, kdfoundation. org.
As for Kate, Ellen says the little girl with the mysterious disease is now an energetic high school junior with dreams of becoming an environmental engineer.
