Self-induced Glomerulonephritis

A patient is described who developed renal failure due to a severe proliferative glomerulonephritis with hypocomplementaemia and cryoglobulinaemia while repeatedly injecting herself with diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus vaccine (D.P.T. vaccine). After stopping the antigen administration there was recovery of renal function, complement values returned to normal, and cryoglobulin could no longer be recovered from the sera. The pathogenesis of the glomerulonephritis is discussed.