N15.0: Balkan nephropathy

There are 2 kidneys in the body. There is one on each side of the spine just below the ribcage. Each kidney is made up of renal tissue and a renal pelvis. The renal tissue purifies the blood and, by doing so, produces urine. The urine gathers in the renal pelvis.

The precise cause of the condition is not known. It is likely that certain specific substances have damaged your renal tissue over a long period. These substances are found, for example, in contaminated flour. This particularly affects people who spend long periods living in the Danube region of the Balkans.

Most people feel tired and have headaches or stomach ache at the initial stages. If the disease continues to damage the kidneys, they work less and less. After a while you often have some blood or protein in your urine. You may also not have enough red blood cells in your body, for example. If the kidneys start to fail you will often feel very tired and weak. In that case, you may be seriously ill. This condition increases the risk of cancer in the urinary organs. The urinary organs include organs that form urine or excrete it from the body. Urine flows from both kidneys into the bladder via the ureters. The urethra channels the urine outward from the bladder.