Epidemiological evidence on Balkan nephropathy as a viral disease.

Balkan nephropathy is a chronic kidney disease of a completely unknown etiology. Most epidemiologists believe that the disease has been caused by viruses, though all attempts to prove such a relationship have been fruitless. A common feature of most of the clues offered for elucidating the role of the viruses, is that they interfere with the epidemiological evidence on BN. Therefore, a hypothesis is put forward that the disease has been caused by slow viruses transmitted by rodents which contaminate food and articles in the house. Such an explanation fits most of the existing epidemiological data.