FP905FIVE MICROBIOLOGIC EVENTS BEHIND THE HISTORY OF NEPHRITIS

Abstract

Introduction and Aims: The study presents five historic discoveries of microorganisms related to diseases and syndromes with renal failure and nephritis: Campylobacter spp., Leptospira spp., Tricinella spiralis, Polyomavirus and Hantavirus. Method(s): The research has been based on the medico-historical sources of the microbiologic discoveries (19th-20th c.). Result(s): Most Campylobacter species are pathogenic and can infect humans. The symptoms of Campylobacter spp. infections (including nephritis) were described in 1886 in infants by Theodore Escherich, a German-Austrian pediatrician. These infections were named as cholera infantum. The genus was first described in 1963; however, the organism was not isolated until 1972. Leptospirosis is an infection caused by Leptospira and exhibits a variety of clinical manifestations, ranging from a mild self-limiting febrile illness to fatal disease with severe pulmonary haemorrhagic syndrome and renal failure. The disease was first described by AdolfWeil in 1886, after whomWeil's disease is named. Trichinosis is a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercook pork infected with the larvae of Trichinella spiralis. In 1835, James Paget, a first-year medical student, first observed the larvae of Trichinella spiralis. Later on, Richard Owen is credited for the discovery of Trichinallis larval form. During the period 1850-1870 a series of experiments by Rudolf Virchow, Rudolf Leuckart and Friedrich Albert von Zenker led to the discovery of the life of Trichinella spiralis. Polyomaviruses are DNA-based viruses and they are potentially oncogenic. Polyomaviruses contributed to diseases such as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (JC virus), nephropathy (BK virus) and Merkel cell cancer (Merkel cell virus). BKV can be detected in the urine of individuals following bone marrow and renal transplantation as well as in the urine of healthy individuals. Murine polyomavirus was the first polyomavirus discovered by Ludwik Gross in 1953. Based on the works of Gross, Sarah Stewart and Benice Eddy were the first to describe polyomavirus. Hantavirus, is a relatively newly discovered genus. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a group of clinically similar illnesses caused by species of viruses from the family Bunyaviridae. It is also known as Korean hemorrhagic fever, epidemic hemorrhagic fever and epidemic nephropathy. An outbreak of Korean Hemorrhagic Fever among the soldiers of the United Nations Forces during the Korean War (1950-1953) was later found to be caused by a Hantaan virus infection. More than 3000 soldiers became ill with symptoms that included renal failure, generalized hemorrhage, and shock, with 10% mortality rate. The virus was isolated in 1976 by Karl Johnson and Ho-Wang Lee. The disease was forgotten until the outbreak of Four Corners region (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah) in 1993, when the "unknown" disease killed 32 people. Terry Yates, an American biologist, is credited for the discovery of the Hantavirus epidemiologic cycle. Conclusion(s): A lot of microbes and parasites are involved in the pathogenesis of the nephritis. From 19th century the physicians described the symptoms of viral or bacterial nephritis and the microbiologists described the microorganisms. The difficulties of cultivation and isolation of the microbes involved in the nephrites' pathogenesis will be overcome in 20th century.