HERPES SIMPLEX KERATITIS IN MALARIA: CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

During recent months increasing numbers of otherwise healthy troops have contracted malaria in tropical combat areas. In these patients numerous instances of keratitis due to herpes simplex virus have been encountered. These infections have frequently resulted in serious scarring of the cornea, and the ulcers have been prone to recur with successive attacks of malaria. For these reasons it has seemed worth while to consider the relation between malarial fever and herpetic keratitis. The most common corneal lesion of herpes simplex is an epithelial infection which is usually seen as an irregular linear ulceration with characteristic dendritic contour. Multiple discrete superficial punctate lesions may be found alone or simultaneously with a dendritic ulcer. Deep keratitis may develop from a preexisting superficial lesion or may appear as a disciform keratitis involving primarily the corneal parenchyma. A disturbing feature is the recurrence of small rounded metaherpetic ulcers. Corneal hypesthesia is characteristic of