DESPITE the frequency of common acute viral infections, many of which affect numerous tissues and organs, the kidneys appear to be involved very seldom. Furthermore, primary viral disease confined to the kidney in the absence of manifestations elsewhere has not been described. Even in the uncommon form of disseminated cytomegalic inclusion disease of early infancy when the kidneys together with most other organs are involved, renal insufficiency is not an observed clinical factor.
Nevertheless, viruses do enter the kidneys and asymptomatic viruria is now recognized as a frequent finding in several common contagious diseases such as mumps, measles, and rubella. For example, the morning urines from patients with mumps collected in the first five days of parotitis revealed mumps virus in 72% of the cases.1
The kidney cells of man and animals support the propagation of many viruses in vitro. Is it possible that the intact kidney supports the