In the News

Acute Kidney Injury in Sugarcane Workers at Risk for Mesoamerican Nephropathy wins AJKD 2019 Editor’s Choice Award

The American Journal of Kidney Diseases (AJKD) selected Acute Kidney Injury in Sugarcane Workers at Risk for Mesoamerican Nephropathy to receive a 2019 Editors’ Choice Award. Kupferman and Ramírez-Rubio et al. 2018 examine the association of episodes of acute kidney injury and CKD onset in sugarcane workers in Nicaragua. Congratulations to all of the authors on an outstanding article!


ARTICLE PUBLISHED ONLINE 7/2/2018
READ AT: AJKD

The Many Factors Involved in Chronic Kidney Disease – A Podcast

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) interviewed Dr. Scammell in their monthly podcast to discuss the CKDnt epidemic and how NIEHS-funded researchers are working to take strides to further understand and address the problem.


PUBLISHED ON 4/22/2019| LISTEN AT: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES

Boston University Researchers Link Central American Kidney Disease Epidemic to Occupational Heat Exposure

Artisanal brick makers in Nicaragua are living with high rates of kidney disease, with those working the ovens at especially high risk; further evidence for a link between occupational heat exposure and disease.


PUBLISHED ON 4/14/2019| READ AT: BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

The Third International Workshop on Chronic Kidney Diseases of Uncertain/Non-Traditional Etiology in Mesoamerica and Other Regions, advancing knowledge

The Boston University research team, as well as researchers, doctors, policy makers, and experts from around the world, discussed the current scientific understanding of Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDnt) and plans for future collaborative work.


PUBLISHED ON 3/22/2019| READ AT: BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Continuing Search for Causes of Kidney Disease in Central America

The School of Public Health Research Group for the Study of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is initiating a new research program investigating the epidemic of CKD among workers in Central America.


PUBLISHED ON 7/3/2017 | READ AT: BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Professor Recognized for Research into El Salvador’s Kidney Disease Epidemic

Madeleine Scammell, assistant professor of environmental health, is one of five researchers selected for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Outstanding New Environmental Health Science (ONES) awards.


PUBLISHED ON 4/10/2017 | READ AT: BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Five early career scientists are ONES to watch

Five new researchers are the latest recipients of the competitive NIEHS Outstanding New Environmental Health Science (ONES) awards. The awards are designed to identify outstanding scientists at the formative stages of their careers.


PUBLISHED ON 4/3/2017 | READ AT: ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR BY NIEHS

Statement of the CENCAM Board and the Scientific Committee of the 2nd International Workshop on Mesoamerican Nephropathy: Regarding Currently Known Facts about the Epidemic 

Click to enlargeThe 2nd International Workshop on the Epidemic of Mesoamerican Nephropathy (MeN) was held in San José, Costa Rica, November 18-20, 2015, three years after the first workshop.


PUBLISHED ON 3/29/2016 | READ AT: BOARD STATEMENT MEN | BOARD STATEMENT MEN ESPAÑOL

Sleuthing Kidney Disease in Central America

Have you ever been thrilled with a good medical mystery? Solving a two-decade-old health crisis in Central America provides new insights into how we can protect our kidney health, especially when working in extremely high heat settings.


PUBLISHED ON 10/8/2015 | REAT AT: HUFFINGTON POST

Researchers Zero In on Cause of ‘Mesoamerican Nephropathy’

Click to enlargeOccupational heat stress and volume depletion may be contributing to an epidemic of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Central America referred to as “Mesoamerican Nephropathy” that disproportionately affects young male agricultural workers, especially sugarcane cutters, according to a new report.


PUBLISHED ON 10/8/2015 | READ AT: RENAL & UROLOGY NEWS

Clues Found in Nicaragua Sugar Cane Worker Kidney Disease Epidemic

Click to enlargeThe epidemic of kidney disease among young Central American agricultural workers may be the result heat stress and volume depletion, according to new research published today in the National Kidney Foundation’s American Journal of Kidney Diseases.


PUBLISHED ON 10/7/2015 | READ AT: NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION

Kidney Damage Found in Adolescents in High-Risk Regions of Nicaragua

Click to enlargeResearchers trying to find the cause of an epidemic of chronic kidney disease in Central America have previously identified strenuous manual labor in agriculture as a possible risk factor. But a new study led by School of Public Health researchers suggests that the initial kidney damage may be present in adolescence, before young people start working.


PUBLISHED ON 9/7/2015 | READ AT: BUSPH

Sister City program hears from student visitors to Quezalguaque

Click to enlargeThree of the seven students in Quezalguaque this summer for the Brookline-Quezalguaque Sister City Project attended a meeting of the Sister City Health Committee on Aug. 4 to debrief on the summer health projects.


PUBLISHED ON 8/17/2015 | READ AT: BROOKLINE TAB

In El Salvador’s Sugarcane Fields, Small Changes Bring New Hope for Workers

Click to enlargeFacing a wall of towering sugar cane in charred shades of yellow, black, and brown, José Luis Rivas Masariego leans down to hack at a few stubborn stalks.


PUBLISHED ON 6/14/2015 | READ AT: CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

CKD: a Serious Public Health Problem

Thousands of deaths later, there is still no precise answer in the international scientific community as to the causes of the Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) epidemic affecting Nicaragua and other Central American countries.


PUBLISHED ON 5/25/2015 | LEER EN: CONFIDENCIAL

Deadly epidemic in sugarcane fields

Kidney failure suffered by sugarcane field workers has caused more than 24,000 deaths in Central America. Poor working conditions may be a cause, but governments have failed to take action.


PUBLISHED ON 2/26/2015 | READ AT: EL PAÍS

Study Links Sugarcane Fieldwork with Kidney Disease Epidemic in Central America

Scientists are now a little closer to uncovering the cause of a chronic kidney disease (CKD) epidemic that has killed more than 20,000 people in Central America in the last two decades.


PUBLISHED ON 2/17/2015 | READ AT: THE TICO TIMES

Nicaraguans Demand Action Over Illness Killing Thousands of Workers

In the blistering heat of Chichigalpa, the Sandinista heartland of north-west Nicaragua, weary men rest in shaded hammocks gazing at the endless rows of lofty sugar cane.


PUBLISHED ON 2/16/2015 | READ AT: THE GUARDIAN

New Clues to Mysterious Kidney Disease Afflicting Sugar Cane Workers

Something is destroying the kidneys of farm workers along the Pacific coast of Central America. Over the past two decades, more than 20,000 people in western Nicaragua and El Salvador — mostly men and many of them in their 20s and 30s — have died of a mysterious form of kidney failure.


PUBLISHED ON 2/4/2015 | READ AT: NPR

Study Shows Changes in Kidney Function Among Sugarcane Workers in Northwestern Nicaragua

Sugarcane workers in northwestern Nicaragua experienced a decline in kidney function during the harvest, with field workers at greatest risk, suggesting that heat stress or other occupational factors may be playing a role in the high rates of chronic kidney disease in the region, a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health researchers shows.


PUBLISHED ON 2/3/2015 | READ AT: NEWS MEDICAL

Mysterious Kidney Disease Plagues Central America

Juan Salgado was 16 when he started cutting sugarcane, in a town near the Pacific coast of Nicaragua in 1966.
His symptoms began about 35 years later.


PUBLISHED ON 6/11/2014 | READ AT: CNN

Deadly Illness in Nicaragua Baffles Experts

During the harvest season, when exhausted workers spend seven days a week cutting sugar cane, the signs of illness were hard to spot at first.


PUBLISHED ON 5/8/2014 | READ AT: NYTIMES

Mysterious Kidney Disease Slays Farmworkers in Central America

Manuel Antonio Tejarino used to be a lean, fit field hand. During the sugar cane harvest, he’d swing a machete for hours, hacking at the thick, towering stalks.


PUBLISHED ON 4/30/2014 | READ AT: NPR

Kidney Disease in Farming Communities Remains a Mystery

Chronic kidney disease of unknown cause arising in poor, rural, agricultural communities in different regions of the world continues to baffle researchers.


PUBLISHED ON 4/24/2014 | READ AT: THE LANCET

Mystery Kidney Disease Decimates Central American Cane Workers

You won’t see a road sign pointing to “La Isla de Viudas,” or “The Island of Widows,” as it’s not the community’s official name. It’s a nickname born from a horrific body count.


PUBLISHED ON 10/16/2012 | READ AT: NBC NEWS

Mystery Kidney Disease Killing Thousands may be caused by Manual Labor

Could manual labor in Central America be the cause of an epidemic killing thousands? Scientists say yes.


PUBLISHED ON 2/12/2012 | READ AT: FOX NEWS

Mystery Kidney Disease in Central America

A mysterious epidemic is sweeping Central America — it’s the second biggest cause of death among men in El Salvador, and in Nicaragua it’s a bigger killer of men than HIV and diabetes combined.


PUBLISHED ON 12/12/2011 | READ AT: PRI