[Acute nephrotic syndrome associated with secondary syphilis]

We present a case of a 38 year old woman with nephrotic syndrome and skin rash. She had been previously healthy. At the beginning she showed nonpruritic macular papular lesion in trunk and upper and lower extremities with twenty days of evolution. The week previous to hospitalization, she presented eyelid and pretibial edema. The laboratory informed normal kidney function with proteinuria of 10 g/day, plasma proteins of 4.20 g/dl., cholesterol 334 mg/l, VDRL (+), 1/32 FTA abs (+) HIV non reactive, normal collagenogram. She was diagnosed as secondary syphilitic nephrotic syndrome. She was prescribed penicillin, rest and salt restriction. She presented good evolution before ending treatment and the syndrome was completely solved at the third week. The incidence of kidney condition associated with early staging of syphilis is lower than 0.3%. We call attention to this association, for such an uncommon case may not be detected.