Acute blindness as postmeasles complication.

Abstract

SummaryA six year old boy, six days after the outbreak of measles exanthema and an otherwise normal course of measles, became blind overnight. On admittance to hospital he was amaurotic, otherwise afebrile and subjectively in good health. The cerebrospinal fluid and electroencephalograms provided evidence of encephalitis. Examination of the eyes showed fundal lesions dominated by markedly reduced arteries, pronounced retinal oedema and small hemorrhages. Five similar cases are briefly reported from the literature. Compared with the pronounced vascular lesions of the brain found in measles encephalitis, it is assumed that the disease picture may be attributed to encephalitis localized to the eyes as a phylogenetic part of the brain.