Bowen Emily Elizabeth, Hangartner Robert, Macdougall Iain
Department of Nephrology, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, SE5 9RS, London, UK.
Department of Cellular Pathology, St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
J Gen Intern Med. 2016 Mar;31(3):353-6. doi: 10.1007/s11606-015-3403-6. Epub 2015 May 23.
Common causes of pulmonary-renal syndrome include anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) disease anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) positive vasculitis, and systemic lupus erythematosus. We describe a case of life-threatening pulmonary hemorrhage associated with Campylobacter hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which we believe is a new disease entity. We hypothesize that the cause of this pulmonary-renal syndrome was an immunological reaction to Campylobacter; and that the initiation of high-dose steroids was responsible for the rapid reversal of the patient's pulmonary and renal impairment. The aim of this article is to raise awareness of this unusual cause of a pulmonary-renal syndrome, guiding physicians to recognize it as a potential complication, and to consider high-dose steroids in managing the condition.