Mysterious disease sending young, healthy Texas workers into kidney failure - Fox News

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A mysterious form of kidney disease that has devastated young to middle-aged agricultural workers in Central America and South Asia appears to have surfaced in Texas.

Known as chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) — or Mesoamerican nephropathy — the condition continues to baffle researchers, as some otherwise healthy adults develop kidney failure without having any of the traditional risk factors.

Chronic kidney disease can range from mild to severe, potentially causing fluid buildup and increasing the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and premature death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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But unlike typical cases, CKDu develops without common risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension and glomerulonephritis, a disease that inflames and damages the kidneys' filtering units, according to Dr. Gokul Paidi, a family medicine physician at Community Healthcare Network in New York.

"It typically strikes young to middle-aged adults, more often men, who work in agriculture and manual labor in hot, low-resource regions," he told Fox News Digital.

A mysterious form of kidney disease that has devastated young to middle-aged agricultural workers in Central America and South Asia appears to have surfaced in Texas. (Getty Images)

Several regional kidney diseases have been described over the decades, although not all are considered CKDu.

"Balkan endemic nephropathy has been documented since the 1950s, Itai itai disease in Japan was tied to cadmium contaminated rice, and Sri Lanka nephropathy has been studied since the 1990s," said Paidi, who has published a review on the condition.

Mesoamerican nephropathy – which was first described among sugarcane workers in El Salvador and Nicaragua in the late 1990s – is the form now being reported in the U.S., he noted.

"Disease often progresses rapidly over a few years, and dialysis and transplantation are rarely available."

Other locations have reported similar types of local epidemics, including Sri Lanka, India, rural Thailand and the Tierra Blanca area in Mexico, according to previous research.

"What’s emerging is that these are likely related conditions, essentially clusters of the same underlying disease process showing up in different farming and industrial regions around the world," Paidi said.

Unlike typical cases, CKDu develops without common risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension and glomerulonephritis, a disease that inflames and damages the kidneys' filtering units. (Getty Images)

Physicians at Houston safety-net hospitals, including Ben Taub, have treated otherwise healthy men in their 20s and 30s who presented with kidney failure — some with "Coca-Cola-colored urine," according to Texas Monthly.

They reportedly don’t have any of the typical risk factors that cause kidney disease, like high blood pressure or diabetes.

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"What’s striking about the Texas cases is how closely they mirror what we saw originally in Central America," Paidi noted.

The patients are largely undocumented laborers from Mexico and Central America working in construction, roofing and outdoor trades in extreme heat – jobs where water breaks are often limited, he added.

Physicians at Houston safety-net hospitals, including Ben Taub, have treated otherwise healthy men in their 20s and 30s who presented with kidney failure — some with "Coca-Cola-colored urine," according to Texas Monthly. (Getty Images)

According to a review of Harris County hospital records cited by Texas Monthly, roughly one in six emergency dialysis cases in uninsured or undocumented patients had no identifiable cause, "which is consistent with CKDu," Paidi told Fox News Digital.

Some patients are reluctant to seek care or participate in research because of their immigration status, making it harder to track the disease in Texas and detect kidney damage before it becomes irreversible, experts say.

Experts refer to CKDu as a "silent disease" because most patients don’t initially complain of any symptoms.