Nephritis << nih FRY tihs >> formerly called Bright’s disease, is a general term for several inflammatory diseases of the kidneys. Glomerulonephritis is the disease most often called nephritis. It involves an inflammation of the glomeruli (filtering units) of the kidneys. The inflammation often reduces the amount of urine produced by the kidneys, causing waste products normally eliminated in the urine to accumulate in the body. Severe or persistent glomerulonephritis can cause serious, permanent damage to the kidneys.
Most cases of glomerulonephritis follow an infection of the throat or skin caused by certain types of the bacteria called streptococci. In some people, such infections apparently cause the body to become allergic to the tissues of the glomeruli. The glomeruli may suffer serious damage as a result. If this damage occurs rapidly, the condition is called acute glomerulonephritis. If the damage continues over a period of years, the condition is called chronic glomerulonephritis.
Acute glomerulonephritis occurs mostly in children. Symptoms include facial swelling, fever, headache, high blood pressure, vomiting, and blood and proteins in the urine. There is no specific treatment. Nearly all patients recover from their first attack of acute glomerulonephritis, but many have later attacks of the disease.
Chronic glomerulonephritis develops mostly in adults. In most cases, the specific cause is unknown. Many cases involve only mild symptoms so that a person may not even know that he or she has the disease. For some patients, treatment with medications can stop or even reverse the damage. But for many others, chronic glomerulonephritis causes progressive, incurable kidney damage. Advanced stages may lead to kidney failure and a potentially fatal condition called uremia (see Uremia ). To prevent advanced uremia, physicians may connect the patient to a dialysis machine, which removes wastes from the blood. Treatment may also be done by ambulatory dialysis, in which the patient manually drains and replaces abdominal fluids. In certain severe cases of chronic glomerulonephritis, physicians may perform a kidney transplant to replace the damaged kidneys.
