The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics 2019 , Vol 61 , Num 5
From Uganda to Italy: a case of nephrotic syndrome secondary to Plasmodium infection, Quartan malarial nephropathy and kidney failure
Federico Gentile 2 ,Marida Martino 1 ,Luisa Santangelo 1 ,Paolo Giordano 4 ,Diletta Domenica Torres 1 ,Vincenza Carbone 1 ,Anna Maria Di Palma 3 ,Michele Rossini 3 ,Loreto Gesualdo 3 ,Paola Giordano 5 ,Mario Giordano 1
1 Pediatric Nephrology and Dialysis Unit, Pediatric Hospital Giovanni XXIII, Bari
2 Post Graduated School in Pediatrics, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari
3 Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation - Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation Unit, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari
4 Post Graduated School in Pediatrics, University of Genoa
5 Department of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology-Pediatric Unit, Bari, Italy
DOI : 10.24953/turkjped.2019.05.019 Gentile F, Martino M, Santangelo L, Giordano P, Torres DD, Carbone V, Di Palma AM, Rossini M, Gesualdo L, Giordano P, Giordano M. From Uganda to Italy: a case of nephrotic syndrome secondary to Plasmodium infection, Quartan malarial nephropathy and kidney failure. Turk J Pediatr 2019; 61: 776-779.

Malaria (M), the first parasitic infection, is sometimes associated with nephrotic syndrome (NS) in tropical areas. Kidney involvement during quartan malaria is represented by immune-complex mediated glomerulonephritis (GN). Generally, NS develops several weeks after onset of quartan fever and its clinical course proceeds slowly to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) even after eradication of the infection. We describe a case of Plasmodium malariaeassociated nephrotic syndrome and chronic proliferative glomerulopathy in a boy from Uganda. Renal biopsy revealed chronic proliferative GN with capillary wall thickening producing a double contour, segmental sclerosis and tubular atrophy. Blood Giemsa smear contained rare ring-form trophozoites and gametocytes of Plasmodium spp. This case highlights the importance of obtaining remote travel histories from immigrants presenting with nephrotic syndrome especially due to the current immigration crisis in Europe. Malaria has low prevalence or less known in our continent and requires more medical attention by European doctors. Keywords : proliferative glomerulopathy, malaria, nephrotic syndrome, renal failure, quartan malarial nephropathy

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