GLOMERULONEPHRITIS

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 Case scenario: 

                       A 25-year-old woman presented to her primary care physician complaining of swollen hands since last week. She had also noticed that over the last 2 days she was swelling around her eyes and was short of breath.

Epidemiology:

                    Glomerulonephritis is rare, with an estimated worldwide incidence of 0.5-2.5 per 100,000 patients per year depending on the specific type. In contrast, the risk of progression to end-stage renal disease(ESRD) is high, explaining why glomerulonephritis accounts for 14-20% of cases of end-stage renal disease.

Causes:

  1. Toxins and medicine
  2. Viral infections like hepatitis C and B virus.
  3. IgA nephropathy
  4. lupus-related kidney inflammation

Symptoms:

  1. Fatigue
  2. High blood pressure
  3. Swelling of the hands, feet, belly, and face
  4. Blood and protein in the urine
  5. Decreased urine output.

Complications:

  1. Acute kidney failure.
  2. Chronic kidney disease
  3. High blood pressure
  4. Nephrotic syndrome 

Diagnosis: 

                     The doctor may ask you to get a urine DR to see if there is a high protein or inflammatory cells. 

Management: 

  1. Changes to your diet so that you may eat less protein, salt, and potassium
  2. Corticosteroids such as prednisone
  3. Dialysis
  4. Diuretics to reduce swelling.

Prevention: 

                Currently, there is no definite prevention of the disease but practicing good hygiene, and avoiding IV drugs can be useful.

References and citations:

  1. The case scenario was taken from the website of IUIS, The URL of the website is                          https://www.immunopaedia.org.za/clinical-cases/infectious-diseases/a-case-of-swollen-hands/
  2. The Epidemiology was taken from the Swiss Medical Weekly and the authors are Giliane Nanchena, Kevin Schutzbachb, Samuel Rotmanc, Rebecca Winzelerd, Patrice Ambühld, Matthieu Halfona, Menno Pruijma. The URL of the article is https://smw.ch/article/doi/smw.2020.20353#:~:text=Glomerulonephritis%20is%20rare%2C%20with%20an,ESRD%20%5B3%2C%204%5D.
  3. The Causes and Symptoms were taken from Hopkins Medicine and the URL to the website is https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/glomerulonephritis
  4. The Complications were taken from Mayoclinic and the URL to their website is https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/glomerulonephritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20355705 
  5. The Diagnosis was taken from Yale medicine and the URL to their website is https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/glomerulonephritis#:~:text=How%20is%20glomerulonephritis%20diagnosed%3F,of%20protein%20or%20inflammatory%20cells. 
  6. The Management was taken from Cleveland clinic and the URL to their website is https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16167-glomerulonephritis-gn 
  7. The prevention was taken from the National kidney foundation and their URL is https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/glomerul#:~:text=treatment%20for%20you.-,Can%20glomerulonephritis%20be%20prevented%3F,could%20lead%20to%20this%20illness.                                 



                      
                                     

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