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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Each of your kidneys contains approximately 1 million tiny filters (glomeruli), which attach to the opening of a small fluid-collecting tube (tubule). Each glomerulus and tubule form a nephron, the functional unit of the kidneys. The glomeruli filter your blood as it passes through your kidneys, and the filtered blood returns to your bloodstream. The tubules modify what the glomeruli filter by saving needed substances, such as protein. The waste goes to your bladder as urine through a tube (ureter) from each kidney and passes out of your body when you urinate.
Glomerulonephritis — an inflammation of the glomeruli — can damage your kidneys so that they lose their filtering ability, allowing dangerous levels of fluid and waste to accumulate in your body (called kidney failure) and depriving your bloodstream of protein, which is excreted in your urine.
Often the cause of glomerulonephritis is unknown. Known causes include:
Infections
- Post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis. Glomerulonephritis may develop after a strep infection in your throat or, rarely, on your skin (impetigo). Post-infectious glomerulonephritis is becoming less common in the United States, most likely because of rapid and complete antibiotic treatment of most streptococcal infections.
- Bacterial endocarditis. Bacteria can occasionally spread through your bloodstream and lodge in your heart, causing an infection of one or more of your heart valves. Those at greatest risk are people with a heart defect, such as a damaged or artificial heart valve.
- Viral infections. Among the viral infections that may trigger glomerulonephritis are the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, and the hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, which primarily affect the liver.
Immune diseases
- Lupus. A chronic inflammatory disease, lupus can affect many parts of your body, including your skin, joints, kidneys, blood cells, heart and lungs.
- Goodpasture's syndrome. A rare immune lung disorder that may mimic pneumonia, Goodpasture's syndrome causes bleeding (hemorrhage) into your lungs as well as glomerulonephritis.
- IgA nephropathy. Characterized by recurrent episodes of blood in the urine, this primary glomerular disease results from deposits of immunoglobulin A (IgA) in the glomeruli. IgA nephropathy can progress for years with no noticeable symptoms. The disorder seems to be more common in men than in women.
Vasculitis
- Polyarteritis. This form of vasculitis affects small and medium blood vessels in many parts of your body, such as your heart, kidneys and intestines.
- Wegener's granulomatosis. This form of vasculitis affects small and medium blood vessels in your lungs, upper airways and kidneys.
Conditions that cause scarring of the glomeruli
- High blood pressure. Damage to your kidneys and their ability to perform their normal functions can occur as a result of high blood pressure. Glomerulonephritis can also cause high blood pressure because it reduces kidney function.
- Diabetic kidney disease. Diabetic kidney disease (diabetic nephropathy) can affect anyone with diabetes. Diabetic nephropathy usually takes years to develop. Good control of blood sugar levels and blood pressure may prevent or slow kidney damage.
- Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. Characterized by scattered scarring of some of the glomeruli, this condition may result from another disease or occur for no known reason.
Chronic glomerulonephritis sometimes develops after a bout of acute glomerulonephritis. In some people there's no history of kidney disease, so the first indication of chronic glomerulonephritis is chronic kidney failure. Infrequently, chronic glomerulonephritis runs in families. One inherited form, Alport syndrome, may also involve hearing or vision impairment.
- Your kidneys and how they work. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/yourkidneys/index.htm#rate. Accessed Jan. 29, 2009.
- Glomerulonephritis. National Kidney Foundation. http://www.kidney.org/atoz/atozItem.cfm?id=65. Accessed Jan. 29, 2009.
- Glomerular diseases. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/glomerular/. Accessed Jan. 29, 2009.
- Introduction: Glomerular diseases. The Merck Manuals Online Library: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec17/ch235/ch235a.html#S17_CH2. Accessed Feb. 3, 2009.
- Rose BD, et al. Differential diagnosis of glomerular disease. http://www.uptodate.com/online/content/topic.do?topicKey=glom_dis/11. Accessed Feb. 3, 2009.
- Nachman PH, et al. Primary Glomular Disease. In: Brenner BM, et al. Brenner and Rector's The Kidney. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/125541428-3/815444355/1583/33.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3105-5..50032-3--cesec59_1945 Accessed March 12, 2009.
