Cornea and Sclera

cornea warrant periodic critical analysis, few others have caused more controversy than the various virulent viruses and their effect on this tissue. Herpesvirus hominis (herpes simplex virus, HSV) infection is by far the most important viral disease of the eye in the Western hemisphere and will be discussed in detail. Mechanisms of disease and means of therapy are both subject to dispute and hopefully will be brought into perspective by this effort. Additionally, other viruses and the Chlamydiae group will be mentioned. In order to understand better the patho¬ genesis of ocular herpesvirus hominis infec¬ tion, experimental animals have been used, particularly the rabbit. Numerous similari¬ ties are now evident between experimentally induced herpetic keratitis in the rabbit and the naturally occurring disease in man. In both species, dendritic lesions, corneal anes¬ thesia, favorable response to antimetabolite drugs, deleterious effects to corticosteroids, and disciform keratitis may occur. Also, cir¬ culating antibodies are formed and remain along with the persistence of virus and recurrences of infection with or without ker¬ atitis. These similarities provide evidence that the rabbit eye is the closest to an ideal model eye we have for studies on the natural history of herpetic keratitis and for in¬ vestigation of latency in herpetic infection.'