"The causal agent of the disease remains unknown after more than 40 years of intensive research. The number of cases continues to rise in many parts of the world".

Sounds familiar. But, it actually refers to Kawasaki disease, which is a childhood heart disease.

Redo et al. [1] report an association between KD and wind patterns.

A follow up piece [2] describes how a plane equipped with filters was flown into likely looking air in a search for the culprit.

Reference

[1] "Association of Kawasaki disease with tropospheric wind patterns"
Xavier Rodó,Joan Ballester,Dan Cayan,Marian E. Melish,Yoshikazu Nakamura,Ritei Uehara & Jane C. Burns
Scientific Reports 1,Article number:152, 2011
http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/1111...srep00152.html

[2] http://www.nature.com/news/infectiou...e-wind-1.10374

John