Malarial nehprosis

Abstract

Convincing evidence of an association between "Plasmodium malariae" and the nephrotic syndrome in children has accumulated over the years. The epidemiological data include (1) case-history reports of the relative prevalence of "P.malariae" in nephrotics and controls (2) comparisons of the incidence of the nephrotic syndrome in the tropics with that in temperate countries, and (3) time-trend studies of the effects of malaria control on the incidence of nephrosis. There now exists overwhelming evidence of an association between quartan malaria and the nephrotic syndrome in childhood, and all the clinical, laboratory, morphological, immunological and epidemiological data available strongly support the concept of `malarial nephrosis' as an immune-complex disease. This syndrome responds poorly to all forms of treatment which have been tried so far and usually progresses to renal failure and early death.