While influenza viruses are a common respiratory pathogen, sporadic reports of conjunctivitis following human infection demonstrates the ability of this virus to cause disease outside of the respiratory tract. The ocular surface represents both a potential site of virus replication and a portal of entry for establishment of a respiratory infection. However, the properties which govern ocular tr...

Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic recurrent systemic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology characterized by oral and genital ulcerations, skin lesions, and uveitis. The ocular involvement of BD, or Behçet's uveitis (BU), is characterized by panuveitis or posterior uveitis with occlusive retinal vasculitis and tends to be more recurrent and sight threatening than other endogenous autoimmune...

BACKGROUND Ocular signs of Fabry disease can be seen in the first decade of life. METHODS We examined the occurrence of ocular signs in 232 paediatric patients in the Fabry Outcome Survey (FOS) international registry and looked for relationships between the presence of eye findings and disease severity as measured by the FOS Mainz severity score index (FOS-MSSI). RESULTS At least one ocular...

Diabetes Mellitus is most commonly manifested as fast developing cataracts. This type of cataract is the result of increased glucose in the aqueous humor. The cataract often has a prominent Y suture line on the anterior portion of the lens, making it the “Yes” for diabetes. Blood glucose is recommended for diagnosis. In fact 85% of all diabetic dogs will develop cataracts within 18 months of di...

Rickettsioses are emergent and resurgent arthropod vector borne diseases due to obligate intracellular small gram-negative bacteria. Most of them are transmitted to humans by the bite of contaminated arthropods, such as ticks. Systemic disease typically consists of high fever, headache and skin rash, with or without «tache noire» (dark spot). Ocular involvement is common including conjunctiviti...

The eye has received considerable attention in the study and evaluation of the effect of interferon and interferon inducers on viral disease. Since this organ is easily visualized, permits easy access to culture material, is frequently involved in viral infections, and can be studied under intense magnification in the in vivo state, it is a logical organ system for such study. Furthermore, most...

Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a common complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Ocular GVHD develops in approximately 40-60% of patients following allo-SCT and its most common clinical manifestations include keratoconjunctivitis sicca and cicatricial conjunctivitis. Ocular GVHD may lead to severe ocular surface disease, which can significantly diminish quality of l...

Thirty seven Chinese adults and 23 children in Hong Kong with myasthenia gravis were tested for HLA-A and -B antigens and acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody. HLA BW46 had a significantly increased prevalence in patients with juvenile onset ocular myasthenia gravis. Only one third of the juvenile ocular patients had AChR antibodies and the titres were generally low. In the adult patients tak...