Houston Doctors Identify Mysterious Kidney Disease in Texas Laborers

Physicians at Houston's Ben Taub Hospital have documented a cluster of previously undiagnosed kidney failure cases among young, otherwise healthy immigrant laborers from Mexico and Central America. Internist Ricardo Nuila suspects these cases resemble chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu), a condition long seen among sugarcane workers in El Salvador and other Central American countries but never before confirmed in the United States. The patients, many employed in physically demanding outdoor jobs like roofing, painting, and road paving, now require dialysis several times a week to survive.