Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffIn Henoch-Schonlein purpura, some of the body's small blood vessels become inflamed, which can cause bleeding in the skin, joints, abdomen and kidneys. Why this initial inflammation develops isn't clear, although it may be the result of an overzealous immune system responding inappropriately to certain triggers.
Some of these triggers include:
- Viral and bacterial infections, such as strep throat and parvovirus infection — nearly half the children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura develop it after an upper respiratory infection
- Certain medicines, including some types of antibiotics and antihistamines
- Insect bites
- Some vaccinations, including those for measles, typhoid, yellow fever and cholera
- Cold weather
- Certain chemicals
- Kraft DM, et al. Henoch-Schonlein purpura: A review. American Academy of Family Physicians. http://www.aafp.org/afp/980800ap/kraft.html. Accessed Aug. 10, 2008.
- Dedeoglu F, et al. Management of Henoch-Schonlein purpura. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 10, 2008.
- Dedeoglu F, et al. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of Henoch-Schonlein purpura. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Aug. 17, 2008.
- Gibson KL, et al. Corticosteroid therapy for Henoch-Schonlein purpura. Pediatrics. 2008;121(4):870-871.
- Henoch-Schonlein purpura. Vasculitis Foundation. http://www.vasculitisfoundation.org/HenochSchonleinpurpura. Accessed Aug. 10, 2008.
- Weiss PF, et al. Effects of corticosteroid on Henoch-Schonlein purpura: A systematic review. Pediatrics. 2007;120(5):1079-1087.
- Henoch-Schonlein Purpura. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Clearinghouse. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/HSP. Accessed Aug. 10, 2008.
