Renal involvement in bancroftian filariasis

There are anecdotal reports of renal involvement in filariasisbut no systematicstudy has yet been done.

Fourteen out of 94 patients attending a filariasis clinic, who had proteinuria, haematuria or chyluria, under-went detailed in-patient investigations including a renal biopsy (9).

Light microscopy of renal biopsy tissue revealed predominantly mesangioproliferative changes in 6 patients with associated inflammatory cell proliferation in 3 and endocapillary cell proliferation in 2 cases. Basement membrane thickening and tubular degeneration were observed in 2 cases each. Under immunofluorescence there were mesangial deposits of IgG alone, orin combination with C3, in 4 patients who showed mesangioproliferative changes under light microscopy. Granular deposits of IgG and C3 along the capillary wall were seen in 1 of the 2 patients who had endocapillary cell proliferation.

It is suggested that certain patients with filariasishave an immune mediated glomerulopathy.