Alarm over child kidney disease

PETALING JAYA: Kidney problems among children is becoming an issue in Malaysia due to parents not detecting the disease early.
Kidney experts say that if parents notice the symptoms early, the disease can be cured.
About 1,000 children have been identified with some form of kidney disease in the country but experts say the number could just be the tip of the iceberg.
National Kidney Foundation’s (NKF) board of directors chairman, Datuk Dr Zaki Morad Mohd Zaher (pix), said kidney problem among children is worrying and need to be addressed.
“Kidney disease can affect children in various ways, ranging from treatable disorders without long-term consequences to life-threatening conditions,” said Zaki, adding that acute kidney disease is a serious condition that can develop suddenly, often lasts a short time and may disappear completely once the underlying cause has been treated.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) tends to worsen over time, even leading to kidney failure (end-stage kidney disease) and needs to be treated with a kidney transplant or blood-filtering treatments (dialysis) for life.
As of December 2014, there were 519 students under the age of 18 on Hemodialysis, 278 on Peritoneal dialysis and 180 listed for kidney transplant.
Zaki told theSun that public awareness to this problem is crucial.
He said one of the major cause for kidney problem among children is ‘Glomerulonephritis’ which can either be acute or chronic.
The acute form develops suddenly, sometimes after a throat or skin infection. The early symptoms of the acute disease are face puffiness in the morning, blood in your urine (or brown urine) and urinating less than usual.
Zaki stressed that good eating habits, good diet and regular exercise will help avert diseases such as diabetes and hypertension which can also lead to kidney failure.