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. 1976 Apr 10;1(6014):890–892. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6014.890

Acute renal failure in tropical Africa.

D Adu, Y Anim-Addo, A K Foli, E D Yeboah, J K Quartey, B F Ribeiro
PMCID: PMC1639566  PMID: 1260396

Abstract

Between 1972 and 1975, 55 adult patients with acute renal failure were admitted to the renal unit of Korle Bu Hospital. Fourteen patients died, giving an overall death rate of 25%. Massive intravascular haemolysis after a short febrile illness was the commonest cause of acute renal failure. Clinically these patients presented with blackwater fever but in only one could Plasmodium falciparum malaria be confidently diagnosed. In half the patients various bacterial and viral infections (especially typhoid) could be incriminated as causing this blackwater fever syndrome. The incidence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency was 22.5%, but we could not confirm the impression of a greater predisposition to acute renal failure in patients with this enzyme defect.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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