N. Ahsan et Bf. Palmer, LEPROSY-ASSOCIATED RENAL-DISEASE - CASE-REPORT AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 5(8), 1995, pp. 1546-1552
Leprosy is an infectious disease the principal clinical manifestations
of which are anesthetic skin lesions and the development of periphera
l neuropathy. The most common renal manifestation in leprosy patients
is glomerulonephritis. Both immunofluorescent and electron microscopic
studies suggest that the varied glomerular lesions found in these pat
ients are immune complex mediated. Other renal lesions that have been
described include amyloidosis, tubulointerstitial disease, acute renal
failure, and functional defects in the absence of identifiable histol
ogic abnormalities. In this report, a patient is described who develop
ed the clinical syndrome of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis. Th
e renal biopsy showed a diffuse endocapillary proliferative process wi
th electron-dense deposits in the glomerular subendothelial and subepi
thelial spaces. Organisms consistent with Mycobacterium leprae were id
entified within several of the glomeruli.