This strikes me as scary considering the lack of any definitive answer from the FDA about whether tainted wheat gluten has gotten into the food supply. Maybe it has been for awhile?
------------------------------
Kidney Rate in South Florida Soars
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/sfl-rxkidney02apr02,0,787891.story?coll=sfla-news-healthSouth Florida has the nation's highest rate of children with kidney failure, Zilleruelo said, about eight new cases per million population, or about 24 cases a year, compared with a national average of six cases per million.
"We're about 30 percent higher," Zilleruelo said.
<snip>
"We are in the presence of what we could almost call an epidemic. The percentage of patients with FSGS in dialysis is about 25 percent, almost double the rest of the nation's 12 to 14 percent," Zilleruelo said.
<snip>
Zilleruelo, director of pediatric nephrology at the UM Miller School of Medicine, said a combination of factors can trigger kidney disease, including the type Hannah and Autoya have, although the precise cause of FSGS remains unknown.