<unk>  (MeN) is an endemic, non-diabetic, non-hypertensive chronic kidney disease (CKD) characterized by reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) with mild or no proteinuria and no features of known primary glomerular diseases. MeN is prevalent in agricultural communities along the Pacific Ocean coastal lowlands<unk>  including southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica. Although most cases have been described among agricultural workers, MeN has also been described in other occupations, including miners, brick manufacturers, and fishermen. A common denominator among these occupations is that they are outdoor workers who reside in rural areas in hot and humid climates. The MeN epidemic in Central America extends along a nearly 1000 kilometer stretch of the Pacific coast. Among the countries that this span encompasses, CKD is the second leading cause of death in El Salvador and Nicaragua, third leading cause in Costa Rica, and fourth leading cause in Panama. El Salvador and Nicaragua have the highest rates of kidney disease mortality in the world; among men, the mortality rate from CKD is approximately six-fold higher in El Salvador and five-fold higher in Nicaragua than the median global rate, and 1.5-2 times higher than the rate in Libya, the third-highest country on the list. The disease has devastated many of the communities where it exists and has overwhelmed healthcare systems in affected countries, causing unknown morbidity and tens of thousands of deaths over the last 20 years in<unk> alone. MeN is generally diagnosed in men in their twenties or thirties, and initially presents as a progressive decline in GFR without notable proteinuria. Traditional risk factors for CKD, including hypertension and diabetes mellitus, are generally absent. Despite international research efforts, the specific causes of the disease remain unknown, creating an enormous need for research, patient care and socioeconomic interventions that can only be appropriately addressed through international and interdisciplinary collaboration. The term<unk>  has been in use in Central America and Mexico since 2012. Similar epidemics have been identified in both Sri Lanka and India, leading to the use of other terms that are not geographically-specific, including Chronic Kidney Disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) or of non-traditional origin (CKDnt) and Chronic Interstitial Nephritis in Agricultural Communities (CINAC). Although the diseases are clinically similar and affect similar populations in each country, whether these are all manifestations of the same disease or different diseases with superficial resemblance remains to be definitively demonstrated. High prevalence of CKD with similar characteristics to MeN may exist outside of<unk>  India, and Sri Lanka, although evidence so far is limited to small studies and clinician reports.
Mesoamerican nephropathy
IgA nephropathy
Malarial nephropathy
Balkan endemic nephropathy
Sickle cell nephropathy
Uddanam nephropathy
HIV-associated nephropathy
Analgesic nephropathy