Kidneys are a pair of organs located bellow the ribs, near the middle of the back. Their function is to get rid of wastes and unnecessary liquids from human body in the form of urine.
Glomerulonephritis and bacterial pyelonephritis are the most common problems of the kidneys. These problems are the result of different kind of infections such as pneumonia, syphilis, malaria, hepatitis or even urinary tract infections or prostate growth.
There are two types of glomerulonephritis, acute or chronic glomerulonephritis, both based on the infection of glomeruli. The acute glomerulonephritis is an inflammatory disease that affects both kidneys such as chronic glomerulonephritis that in most of the cases lead to renal failure.
After different kinds of infections such as streptococcal infections or respiratory ones, acute glomerulonephritis may be seen. If the treatment for these kinds of infections is not followed exactly as the doctor orders and for a long enough period, problems may appear and the infection could come back again.
If treatment can not help and the infection does not disappear in more than two years, than it's considered a chronic case. Chronic glomerulonephritis occurs for a small percentage of patients. The symptoms are almost inexistent so people can live with it. Even though 20 to 30 years patients may live a normal life, after this period the only solution is a kidney transplant or dialysis.
The other form of infection is pyelonephritis. Pyelonephritis is an inflammatory disease of one or both kidneys and can be of three types: acute, relapsing or chronic. The chances of renal failure are high for this kidney problem because most of the cases are caused by bacteria and all of the factors that involve urinary tract infections. Escherichia coli is the most common infection that affects the kidneys. Other types of bacteria as Chlamydia and Mycoplasma can lead to kidneys infection. These last types of bacteria can be sexually transmitted, unlike Escherichia coli. Other causes for pyelonephritis are growth of prostate gland, kidney stones or hyperglycemia and even pregnancy.
Symptoms of pyelonephritis are in most of the cases fever, chills, back ache and vomiting. For glomerulonephritis symptoms do not really exist because the disease advances slowly and patients can live with it without having serious problems.
The diagnoses are set after serious investigations. For example the glomerulonephritis diagnosis is set after a kidney exam and after a urine test to determine the level of protein.
For pyelonephritis the close watch of the symptoms can give doctors a lot of information about the diagnosis and the treatment.
Both these types of kidney infections can be treated with antibiotics which are recommended in most of the cases, but when there is no result a long term therapy may be required.