Renal lesions accompanying poison oak dermatitis

Renal damage associated with poison oak dermatitis is extremely rare in humans after exposure to urushiol antigen. Three renal lesions have been described: proliferative glomerulonephritis, arteritis, and membranous nephropathy. The present study reports on three patients who developed nephropathy after exposure to poison oak. One patient was studied by renal biopsy (including electron microscopy and immunofluorescence techniques) and another by autopsy findings. One of these patients had a typical membranous nephropathy, the other, proliferative glomerulonephritis with necrotizing arteritis and glomerulitis. In the patient with membranous nephropathy antibody to urushiol was discovered by passive cutaneous anaphylaxis in the guinea pig.