IgA Nephropathy- Berger's Disease
IgA Nephropathy, also known as Berger's Disease, is an autoimmune disease. It occurs when the antibody immunoglobin A builds up inside the glomerulus, the part of the nephron that does most of the blood filtration. The glomerulus becomes inflamed due to this immune response, interfering with its function of blood filtration. Eventually, the nephron shuts down, and as immunoglobin A spreads to other nephrons, widespread nephron shut down results in ESRD (end-stage Renal Disease) commonly known as Kidney Failure.
IgA Nephropathy affects Asian, Hispanic, and African population. This is a personal observation when our team has visited US based transplant clinics.
The disease shows more perceptible symptoms in late teen age and severe symptoms in thirties. The most common symptoms are high blood pressure, traces of blood and protein in urine, severe headaches that could be misdiagnosed as migraine.