Enhanced allergic tissue injury in Goodpasture's syndrome by intercurrent bacterial infection.

Studies of 16 relapses in seven patients receiving treatment for Goodpasture's syndrome showed that intercurrent bacterial infection seemed to be the precipitating event in 13 cases, whereas a rising antibody titre to glomerular basement membrane was responsible in only one. This association between infection and relapse in Goodpasture's syndrome has several implications for the pathogenesis of antibody-mediated tissue damage, and, clearly, more experiments are needed. Whatever the explanation, however, prevention and early diagnosis and treatment of infection in anti-GBM disease are important.