Nephrotic syndrome associated with toxoplasmosis: report of seven cases

Abstract

SUMMARYThe concomitance of nephrotic syndrome and acute infection by Toxoplasma gondii is a rare occurrence in humans. In this paper seven cases of children, ranging from 11 months to 7 year-old, with concomitant nephrotic syndrome and asymptomatic acute T. gondii infection are reported. In one of those patients only the administration of anti-Toxoplasma therapy was enough to control the clinical and laboratory manifestations of the disease. In the other patients it was necessary to introduce corticosteroids or other immunosuppressant drugs. Three patients had complete clinical and laboratory improvement and the remaining showed only a partial response.

Serological Markers of Viral, Syphilitic and Toxoplasmic Infection in Children and Teenagers With Nephrotic Syndrome: Case Series From Mato Grosso State, Brazil

“…This is in agreement with the previous report of TOPOROVSKI et al. on nephrotic syndrome cases that were seropositive for T. gondii 27 . Although an apparent initial response to specific treatment was observed in some cases, most patients later relapsed, making it difficult to interpret the actual role of these agents in the development of nephrotic syndrome.…”

“…Chronic or prolonged infections by several agents, in particular hepatitis B and C, syphilis, toxoplasmosis, AIDS, and cytomegalovirus are some of the causes of secondary nephrotic syndrome 3 , 4 , 5 , 10 , 16 , 20 , 23 , 27 , 28 . On the other hand, frequent use of immunosuppressants in children with kidney disease or kidney transplant recipients make these individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections by intracellular parasites such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV) 1 or 2 6 , 14 , 21 , 22 .…”

Impaired health status and increased incidence of diseases in Toxoplasma-seropositive subjects – an explorative cross-sectional study

“…In the past 10 years, many associations between latent toxoplasmosis and certain health disorders have been observed and published. Infected subjects have a highly increased probability of being diagnosed with schizophrenia (Torrey et al 2007, 2012), mood disorders (Pearce et al 2012; Radford et al 2012), epilepsy (Stommel et al 2001; Palmer, 2007), autism (Prandota, 2010; Blomstrom et al 2012), migraine and other headaches (Koseoglu et al 2009; Prandota, 2009), melanoma (Nagineni et al 2002), carcinoma of female genitals and breast cancer (Sanchis-Belenguer et al 1984; Vos, 1987), heart diseases (Paspalaki et al 2001; Yazar et al 2006), inflammatory bowel disease (Prandota, 2012), celiac disease (Nejad et al 2011; Prandota, 2012) impaired liver functions (Vethanyagam & Bryceson, 1976; Ustun et al 2004), hematological changes (Flegr & Stříž, 2011), thyroid diseases (Singh et al 1994; Kankova et al 2014), rheumatoid arthritis (Tomairek et al 1982; Torrey & Yolken, 2001; Shapira et al 2012), glomerulonephritis (van Velthuysen & Florquin, 2000; Kapoor, 2012; Toporovski et al 2012), diabetes (Kaňková et al 2015 b ), and changes in lipid contents, including atherosclerosis (Coppens, 2006; Flegr et al 2012). Infected subjects also have a higher probability of suicides (Yagmur et al 2010; Ling et al 2011; Pedersen et al 2012) and traffic or working place accidents (Alvarado-Esquivel et al 2012; Flegr et al 2002, 2009).…”

Toxoplasma gondii induced sperm DNA damage on the experimentally infected rats

“…One third of human population are infected by T. gondii, but in pregnant women and immunocompromised groups, it is considered as a real threat (Tenter et al 2000). Therefore, several studies have notably focused on the effects of T. gondii infection on female reproductive system and immunocmparative patients (Villena et al 2010;Toporovski et al 2012;Wong et al 2018). Also, Toxoplasmosis impacts on male reproductive system were studied in few projects, for example; in several studies, T. gondii tachyzoites were isolated from animals and human semen (Dubey and Sharma 1980;Moura et al 2007).…”