It now appears that infections are a major cause of kidney stones. In 1996, researchers from Turkey (1) and Finland (2) reported that newly discovered bacteria called nanobacteria, cause kidney stones. This month, researchers in Formosa report finding a common intestinal bacteria called proteus and another often sexually transmitted bacteria called ureaplasma in kidney stones (3).
Doctors used to tell their patients with kidney stones to reduce their intake of calcium, but recent research shows that restricting calcium causes stone formers to increase their chances of getting kidny stones (4,5) and osteoporosis (6). Doctors failed to find infections in kidney stones before because nanobacteria are so small that they cannot be seen by conventional microscopes, but can be seen through the super powerful electron microscope, they do not stain with conventional bacterial stains and they do not grow in conventional laboratory agar and grow very slowly on special media. Nanobacteria cause calcium, phosphorus and other minerals to form carbonate apatite as a shell around them, that is a major component of kidney stones. Antibodies that bind to nanobacteria have been found in all 30 stones tested. Tetracycline antibiotics accumulate in the calcium shell, and have been shown to kill nanobacteria. There are no studies to test whether daily intake of doxycycline prevents kidney stones, but these tests should be started soon. I treat my patients with kidney stones with doxycycline 100 mg twice a day for many months. However, treatment of kidney stones with antibiotics is controversial and not accepted by most doctors; discuss this with your doctor.
1) A Yuce, M Yucesoy, K Yucesoy, T Canda, M Fadiloglu, A Gure, N Yulug. Ureaplasma urealyticum induced urinary tract stones in rats. Urological Research 24: 6 (DEC 1996):345-348.
2) Kajander EO et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. July 7, 1998.
3) HS Huang, J Chen, LJ Teng, MK Lai. Use of polymerase chain reaction to detect Proteus mirabilis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in urinary calculi. Journal of the Formosan Medical Association, 1999, Vol 98, Iss 12, pp 844-850.
4) M Liebman, WW Chai. Effect of dietary calcium on urinary oxalate excretion after oxalate loads. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 65: 5(MAY 1997):1453-1459.
5) GC Curhan, WC Willett, FE Speizer,D Spiegelman, MJ Stampfer. Comparison of dietary calcium with supplemental calcium and other nutrients as factors affecting the risk for kidney stones in women. Annals of Internal Medicine. 126: 7 (APR 1 1997):497.
6) A Trinchieri, R Nespoli, F Ostini, F Rovera, G Zanetti, E Pisani. A study of dietary calcium and other nutrients in idiopathic renal calcium stone formers with low bone mineral content. Journal of Urology 159: 3 (MAR 1998):654-657. Restricting calcium causes osteoporosis.
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