Bergers Disease is a condition that can go undiscovered for years or even decades since the symptoms are not present themselves in the early stages. When routine tests reveal protein and red blood cells in your urine that cannot be seen without a microscope, it is sometimes suspected that you have kidney disease (microscopic hematuria).
Causes of Berger’s Disease
Two bean-shaped, fist-sized organs are located at the small of your back, one on either side of your spine, which are also known as kidneys. As your blood passes through your kidneys, it is filtered by small blood vessels, which remove waste, excess water, and other things from your blood. Your circulation is replenished with filtered blood, while waste material is expelled from your body through the urination of your bladder.
Infections and pathogens are attacked by immunoglobulin A (IgA), a kind of antibody that plays a critical function in your immune system. Berger’s disease, on the other hand, occurs when the antibody accumulates in the glomeruli. This can cause inflammation (glomerulonephritis) and eventually compromising the glomeruli’s capacity to filter waste materials from the circulation.
While scientists are unsure of the specific aetiology of IgA deposits in the kidneys, they believe that the following factors may be responsible:
- Genes: It has been shown that Berger’s Disease is more prevalent in some families and ethnic groups than in others.
- Inflammation of the liver Cirrhosis, a disease in which scar tissue replaces normal liver tissue, and chronic hepatitis B and C infections are examples of such conditions.
- Gluten intolerance: This digestive disease is brought on by gluten consumption, a protein present in most grain products.
- Infections like HIV and some bacterial infections are examples of such diseases, according to the WHO.
Signs and symptoms of Bergers Disease
- Urine that is cola or tea in colour (caused by red blood cells in the urine)
- The presence of cola- or tea-coloured urine regularly, as well as the presence of visible blood in your urine, most often during or after an upper respiratory infection or other infection, and occasionally after vigorous exercise.
- Proteinuria is characterised by the presence of protein in your urine, which causes it to be foamy.
- Swelling in your hands and feet (oedema)
- Heart disease and hypertension are both serious problems.
Treatments for Berger’s Disease
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) such as losartan regulate blood pressure in patients with IgA nephropathy. Using ACE inhibitors and ARBs can lower your chance of developing chronic kidney disease, even if you are not suffering from high blood pressure. ACE inhibitors and ARBs are sometimes used in conjunction with one another.
- Steroids can also assist in lowering the quantity of protein excreted in the urine, which can lower your chance of developing chronic kidney disease.
- High cholesterol may need the use of medications known as statins. Because with IgA nephropathy, your cholesterol levels may rise.
- Other therapies that may be beneficial include medications that suppress your defence (immune) system (for example, azathioprine).
