Acute Poststreptococcal Infections: Introduction (Nursing)

00:01 Hi! Welcome to our video series on glomerulonephritis.

00:05 In this video, we're going to focus on acute post streptococcal glomerulonephritis.

00:11 Now, I know that's a mouthful but we're talking about what happens after a patient has a streptococcal infection.

00:18 So remember that glomerulonephritis is an inflammation of the glomeruli and it affects both kidneys.

00:24 Now those glomeruli are one of three important parts of a nephron, the working unit of the kidneys you got about a million in each one of your kidneys.

00:34 So we're all walking around with about 2 million nephrons and a glomerulus is one of three important parts of that nephron.

00:42 It's where all those little capillaries are located.

00:45 So it's a really important part of filtering.

00:48 Now glomerulonephritis is an inflammation of those glomeruli.

00:53 It can be acute happen really fast or chronic over a period of time.

00:58 Now it is one of the major causes of end stage renal disease.

01:03 Yeah, end of the line.

01:05 End-stage renal disease is renal failure.

01:09 Without your kidneys, your body just becomes a mess.

01:14 So you've got it in mind.

01:15 We're talking about glomerulonephritis.

01:17 It's an inflammation in the glomerulus.

01:20 In this video, we're focusing on after a streptococcal infection.

01:26 So we've got some other causes infection is one of the main one and this is where we're going to talk about what happens after an infection with the bacteria streptococcus.

01:35 There's also autoimmune diseases, vasculitis, conditions that scar the glomeruli like diabetes or hypertension and those weird ones we added in, amyloidosis or illegal drug use.

01:47 But let's go back to the very top.

01:49 We want to talk about a rather common case of glomerulonephritis that happens after infections.

01:56 a post streptococcal infection.

01:58 So we've established that this type of glomerulonephritis is caused by a streptococcal infection.

02:05 So acute means it happens within a short period of time post streptococcal, post meeting after and infection with streptococcal is an inflammation in the glomeruli.

02:17 Now that is a lot of words, but if you can break words down in medical terminology, it will help you remember the side effects and symptoms to look for.

02:27 So we know why the glomeruli are struggling because it's about one to two weeks after an infection.

02:33 So it's most common in children and young adults.

02:36 Why do you think that is? Well, it's most common in children and young adults because it's most common for this group of patients to develop a strep infection.

02:46 I'm sure you've seen someone or maybe you've even had strep throat.

02:51 And if you've ever seen a kid with impetigo, you will not forget it.

02:55 So since this is common in children and young adults those of you that are interested in pediatrics, you should be really aware of this possible problem.

03:04 It develops about one to two weeks after the infection.

03:07 Somebody's had a streptococcal infection in their tonsils on the pharynx or their skin.

03:14 So pediatric nurses, what do we want you to be on the lookout for? Right.

03:19 Patients that have a streptococcalinfection about one to two weeks afterwards might develop a glomerulonephritis.

03:26 Whoa, do you see that picture? Doesn't it make you want to just scoop that little toddler up kiss them? Yeah, no, impetigo looks worse than it really is but it is not attractive.

03:39 It's really difficult doing this with little kids, So they don't spread it other places, but we'll treat this with antibiotics.

03:45 But what we're focusing on here is we want to make sure that you have educated your patients to know Hey if there's any change in their urine output or any challenges that you notice, please let us know about 1 to 2 weeks after they have the infection.

04:00 Strep throat.

04:02 Now, this one can be brutal.

04:03 It's important that all of us recognize the signs and symptoms of streptococcus in your throat or strep throat because this happens very often in the community.

04:13 So you have a swollen uvula which that word is just fun to say, isn't it? Uvula, I like it.

04:20 They have Petechiae, those little red spots on the roof of their mouth.

04:24 They have inflamed tonsils and that You have some big white spots on them, but probably have some grey spots on their tongue and they will have an excruciating sore throat.

04:34 So we've talked about two examples of strep, impetigo, which usually happens mostly in the little tiny guys and strep throat, which we see a lot in kids and teenagers.

04:45 Now I got a question for you.

04:47 What is an antibody? Antibodies are actually a blood protein.

04:55 Now this Blood protein gets produced when there's an antigen introduced to your body.

05:00 This is a good thing.

05:01 This is how our immune system works.

05:03 So an antigen is introduced to my body my immune system responds by making these antibodies and now I've got this specific blood protein that's traveling around these antibodies to help recognize and fight off this antigen.

05:18 It becomes a bit of a problem with glomerulonephritis.

05:21 In fact, that's how strep causes glomerulonephritis.

05:26 These antibodies to strep, strep was the antigen.

05:29 So the antibodies to the strep antigen develop and they deposit in the glomerulus.

05:34 That's what causes the inflammation.

05:36 Now the glomerulus is one of three parts of the Nephron, right? The glomerulus and you got the PCT in the DCT those tubules.

05:45 The glomerulus, is that really fragile group of capillaries.

05:49 So if we have this really fragile group tangle of capillaries that now is all plugged up with these antibodies.

05:57 That's why you have inflammation there and it's not as effective.

06:01 The kidneys are not going to be able to function as effectively as they did before they got all clogged up with the antibodies from the strep infection.