[Renal risk of vaccinations. Prospective survey and retrospective study]

The risk of renal damage from diphtheria, tetanus and typho-paratyphoid vaccination was assessed by means of a prospective and a retrospective study. The prospective study involved 817 young adults without history nor signs of urinary disease and therefore, with presumably healthy kidneys. Urine samples were taken before and after each injection and examined for proteinuria and microscopic haematuria. After a total of 1712 doses there was no evidence of post-vaccination nephropathy. In a retrospective study of 63 patients with various forms of glomerulonephritis vaccination was found to be responsible for one case of acute renal failure consecutive to proliferative lesions and one case of syndromic reaction in an asymptomatic Berger's disease. These two complementary studies show that post-vaccination nephropathy may occur, albeit rarely, and that current preventive measures should be pursued.