Hantavirus infection--hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome: the first case series reported in Romania and review of the literature.

Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by Hantaviruses, a group of RNA viruses belonging to the Bunyaviridae family. Humans may get the disease by contamination with excreta of carrier rodents. The disease typically manifests with the triad fever-thrombocytopenia-acute kidney injury (AKI).

[Assessing renal function in elderly people].

Accurate renal function measurement is important for identification of chronic renal disease which may allow early implementation of renoprotective therapy and proper medication dosing among elderly individuals. This paper proposed to review available data about the strengths and weaknesses of current methods of measuring and estimating of renal function and to appoint which of them is the best in older people. Serum creatinine and creatinine clearance are inaccurate screening tests for renal failure in elderly subjects leading to under-recognition and/or underestimation of the degree of renal failure due to the reduced muscle mass and the inappropriate collection of a timed urine sample (urinary incontinence, cognitive impairment).

Acute liver failure due to leptospirosis successfully treated with MARS (molecular adsorbent recirculating system) dialysis.

Background: Leptospirosis is a re-emerging infectious disease, which may lead to multiple organ failure (MOF)and death.

Case Presentation: We report the first case of severe leptospirosis complicated with acute renal and liver failure, successfully treated with albumin dialysis--molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS). Despite antibiotic therapy, optimum medical supportive treatment and timely initiated haemodialysis, the outcome was complicated by severe liver failure: hepatic encephalopathy grade III, hypoglycemia, prominent hyperbilirubinemia (TBIL 31.

Analysis of safety and efficacy of pegylated-interferon alpha-2a in hepatitis C virus positive hemodialysis patients: results from a large, multicenter audit.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection rates are still high in hemodialysis (HD) centers in developing countries. Standard interferon (IFN) monotherapy is associated with good results in HCV-positive patients (more than 30% rate of sustained virological response) but with poor tolerance. Pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) is better tolerated and has a more sustained antiviral effect in the general population.