Vijitr Boonpucknavig

Glomerulitis in Typhoid Fever

Abstract Renal biopsies were done on three unselected patients with typhoid fever. There was no clinical evidence of renal disease, except for mild and transient proteinuria in two patients; renal ...

Infection of young adult mice with dengue virus type 2

Young adult female mice, five to six weeks old, were injected intraperitoneally with 2.5 x 10(6.3) LD50 of dengue-2 virus, New Guinea C strain. The mice were killed on day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 14, 21, 28, and 35 respectively. By means of the immunofluorescent antibody technique, viral antigen appeared as irregular granules in the reticuloendothelial cells of liver, lymph nodes and spleen of infected mice on the first day after inoculation and then diminished. From the fifth to sixth day of infection dengue antigen appeared again as homogeneous staining in the cytoplasm of single or groups of mononuclear cells in the lymphatic sinuses only. Later, by the third week of infection, dengue antigen could be seen in the mononuclear cells located in the marginal zone of lymphoid follicle of the spleen, the pattern of staining changing to bright spherical granules. At the same time, the deposition of immune complexes (composed of dengue antigen, mouse gamma and beta 1C globulin) could be seen in the renal glomeruli of infected mice. Serum antibody to dengue virus was found at low levels, being maximal on the 14th day after infection. Dengue virus was not isolated from the sera or from the infected organs. Granulomatous inflammation developed in lymph nodes and liver of mice infected with dengue virus and in mice inoculated with normal mouse brain suspension. Proliferative glomerular lesion was observed on day 14 after inoculation without definite abnormal urine findings.

Further Observations of Renal Insufficiency in Snakebite

Acute renal insufficiency was observed in two patients bitten by Russell’s vipers. Both patients had bleeding symptoms presumably due to disseminated intravascular coagulation. There was mild intravas

Acute Glomerulonephritis Complicating Plasmodium Falciparum Infection

*** Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. ACUTE GLOMERUL(~i~IEPHRTTIS complicating Flc~.srno~liur~z falca~artcm infection has never been completely documented by immunologic or immunopathologic study, though Berger and associates in 1967 described three cases of acute glomerulonephritis in which renal biopsies were performed late, during the nephrotic state. The histopathologic studies showed a proliferative change with avascularity of the glomerular tu£ts.l 1

IgA Nephropathy Associated with Enteric Fever

3 cases of enteric fever (2 paratyphoid and 1 typhoid) associated with IgA nephropathy were reported. Salmonella Vi antigen was demonstrated in the glomeruli. The clinical syndrome disappeared after enteric fever was treated. Possible pathogenesis was discussed relating this intestinal infection to IgA nephropathy.

Plasmodium berghei: Detection in organs of infected mice by means of immuno-fluorescence

An immunofluorescent study of the malarial antigen in the tissues of mice infected with Plasmodium berghei (berghei strain) was conducted. In the first week of infection, the malarial antigen appears in corpuscular forms in the erythrocytes located in the vessels of the spleen, liver and kidney. From the second week onward, when antibodies to malaria begin to be detected, a new form of the malarial antigen, which appears as coarse granules, is detected in the fixed RE cells of the liver, spleen and in the glomerular endothelial and mesangial cells. There is a progressive decrease in the amount of the corpuscular form of the malarial antigen with a concomitant increase in the granular form. In the third week, most of the malarial antigen in the tissues is granular and the corpuscular form is rarely seen.

Asymptomatic Bacteriuria in Health and Glomeruionephropathies

In a comparative study of prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in a Thai population, 1.4% of 955 apparently healthy adults (12 female and 1 male) were found to have positive urine culture. Of these, 6 individuals grew staphylococcal coagulase-negative, 3 grew E. coli, and the rest grew various other organisms. Among 176 patients with glomerulonephropathies (GNP), 20.5% (17 male and 16 female) yielded positive urine cultures. These included 18 positive for E. coli, 3 for staphylococcal coagulase-negative, 5 for Klebsiella and 3 for Enterobacter; the rest grew various other organisms. There was a higher overall prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in GNP when compared to the controls. Heavy proteinuria is also a predisposing factor for an increase in the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria in female GNP only.

Renal Involvement in Snakebite

Renal lesions in snakebite vary widely. Glomerulonephritis is occasionally observed (Acharya et al., 1972), sometimes associated with nephrotic syndrome (Steinbeck, 1960). Renal infarction has been described (Raab and Kaiser, 1966). However, renal manifestation in man is mostly in the form of renal failure either due to acute tubular necrosis (Amorim and Mello, 1954) or cortical necrosis (Silva et al., 1966; Oram et al., 1963). Recently we reported acute renal failure in patients bitten by sea snakes and Russell’s vipers with histological and laboratory details (Sitprija, et al., 1971; Sitprija et al., 1973). The purpose of this article is to review the available data in the literature on renal involvement in snakebite and to present our additional experience from further study.

Ethics of Renal Biopsies in Typhoid Fever

Excerpt To the editor: In response to Dr. LoGerfos comment (Ann Intern Med81:861, 1974) on the ethical aspect of renal biopsy study in typhoid fever done by our group (Ann Intern Med81:210-213, 19...