CNN today also said that he was autistic. I don't know anything about Kawasaki disease

My somewhat limited understanding is that it is a sort of vasculitis that affects various parts of the body, especially the heart (causing coronary aneurysms and increasing risk of an MI). But, I would obviously defer to BigRedBeta or one of the other MDs or soon-to-be MDs on the board.

I'm kind of surprised the Travoltas accepted a diagnosis of autism considering the fact that they're scientologists. I thought they didn't believe in mental illness?

According to the first article posted, it said John Travolta did not believe Jett had autism. Travolta says Jett suffered from Kawasaki disease.

I don't think many people on the Spectrum (or the parents & teachers of children on the Spectrum) think of it as 'illness' and certainly not a 'mental illness".

Okay... it's a disease of the mind... but not mental. I getcha.

Kawasaki disease:
It usually effect children and is also known as Kawasaki sydrome or mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome. It is one of the two leading causes of children's acquired heart disease

"The coronary arteries are most often affected.Part of a coronary wall can be weakened and balloon in an aneurysm. A blood clot can form in this weakened area and block the artery, sometimes leading to a heart attack. The aneurysm can also burst, but this rarely happens. Other changes include inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) or the sac surrounding the heart (pericarditis). Arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms) or abnormal functioning of some heart valves also can occur.
Usually all the heart problems go away in five or six weeks, and there's no lasting damage. Sometimes coronary artery damage persists, however.
An arrhythmia or damaged heart muscle can be detected using an electrocardiogram (EKG). An echocardiogram (or "echo") is used to look for possible damage to the heart or coronary arteries."

http://www.americanheart.org/present...dentifier=4634

I believe they both have very similar triats and KD is mistaken a lot of the times for autism....i am no one and this is what someone told me regarding the diease

Heartbreaking news. I've always been a John Travolta fan. My husband and I still quote some of his Vinnie Barbarino lines from Welcome Back, Kotter. I can't imagine what he & Kelly Preston & the little girl are going through right now.

John Travolta is one of my favorite actors. :( I was so sorry to hear of his loss.

The reason some are saying that his son had autism is that according to CNN people don't normally have Kawasaki after the age of 8. CNN said this morning that the child was SUSPECTED to be autistic,but because John doesn't believe in drugs and therapy, he chose instead to say/believe that the child had Kawasaki.

The kid had issues. He was 16 and holding hands with his parents. I also read there was a baby monitor in his room.

Autism spectrum disorders are neurodevelopmental disorders (ie, impairment of the development of the neurological system), not a disease.

But I'm with you on the Scientologist angle.

OK, maybe I'm completely missing something here. But it sounds to me like saying "he has KD, he isn't autistic" is kind of like saying "I like fish, not Prada." I mean the 2 conditions don't seem like they are even along the same lines/spectrum. Does anyone get what I'm saying?

I read somewhere (sorry, not sure exactly where) that the autism spectrum disorders and Kawasaki's have some common aspects. So, if one was going to try to explain away autism, Kawasaki's would be a convenient way to do so.

I have a family member who is an expert in autism and other similar developmental disorders, so I'll try to ask her for a more detailed explanation.

ETA: I also thought I read somewhere that Scientologists don't "believe" in autism. You really hope that some deficiency in diagnosis/treatment didn't lead to this kid's death.