ICMR to study A.P. kidney disease crisis

Amid mounting concern about high rates of unexplained kidney disease in the Uddhanam region of Srikakulam district, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is launching an intensive study there in February to identify the likely cause.

A high–level ICMR team will investigate the Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu) that has affected thousands. The ICMR is sending the team following a request from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.

‘Indifference’ slammed

The issue snowballed after actor and Jana Sena Party President Pawan Kalyan made a visit in the first week of January to Uddhanam and criticised the State government for its ‘indifference’ to the kidney disease crisis. Mr. Naidu then sought ICMR help for an in-depth study.

Speaking to

The Hindu , Dr. Georgi Abraham, director of nephrology at Madras Medical Mission, Chennai, and a member of the ICMR team, said kidney disease in India was mostly due to diabetes, but the causes of what had been reported from Uddhanam for more than two decades could not be established.

Test protocol

“We will do urine analysis, study food habits and examine the water samples to find ways to stop or slow disease progression which leads to terminal illness,” Dr. Abraham said.

The team also has Dr. T. Ravi Raju, Vice-Chancellor of Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences and A.P and Dr. Gangadhar Taduri, senior nephrologist at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, epidemiologists and other domain experts. Dr. Taduri, who has researched chronic kidney disease in Uddhanam, said his studies have pointed to silica and strontium as likely causative factors.