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Alfred Sommer, MD

Arch Ophthalmol. 1990;108(3):343-344.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Vitamin A deficiency and xerophthalmia are widely considered to be problems of developing countries. Indeed, more than 60 such countries are recognized by the World Health Organization as suffering from an aggregate 5 million new cases of xerophthalmia, one quarter million resulting in blindness, every year.¹ The true number may be twice as large: recent data suggest that a significant proportion of measles-associated blindness, the major cause of pediatric blindness in Africa, is secondary to acute decompensation of borderline vitamin A status.² The mechanism(s) by which vitamin A deficiency results in corneal ulceration and necrosis remains uncertain, but local sepsis appears to be a late and variable complication.^3,4

See also pp 350 and 354.

Recent data suggest that vitamin A deficiency also has a profound impact on general morbidity,⁵ mortality,^6-8 growth,^8,9 and hematopoiesis.^8,10 Even subclinical deficiency may have important implications for survival.¹¹ . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Baltimore, Md

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