Effect of Measles on the Nephrotic Syndrome

THE UNFAVORABLE effects of intercurrent infections on the nephrotic syndrome are well known and frequently mentioned in the literature. Aldrich1stated that the complications of nephrosis are infectious, not cardiac, while Dodd2summed up the general attitude by saying that "overwhelming bacterial infection is the most common cause of death." Less generally recognized is the fact that intercurrent infections may favorably modify the nephrotic syndrome, and the occasional published reports of such incidences are usually received with a degree of skepticism. Aldrich3reported 3 patients who were cured of nephrosis following streptococcic ethmoiditis and pharyngitis with a metastatic abscess and also bronchopneumonia. Actually in 2 of these patients the edema disappeared while they still had high fever. Karacsony4reported a cure in 1 patient following lobar pneumonia. That the type of infection implicated may be variable was pointed out by Clement,5who analyzed reports of