Herpetic keratitis in experimental vitamin A deficiency.

Herpes simplex virus type I (KOS) was instilled onto the eyes of rabbits with experimentally induced xerophthalmia (vitamin A deficient) and control animals fed a vitamin A supplemented diet. The severity of the herpes virus-induced corneal disease, assessed by biomicroscopic examination and by counting the number of corneal lesions as well as by determining the virus titers, was significantly less in vitamin A deficient animals than in controls. Infection of the corneas of the vitamin A deficient rabbits with herpes simplex virus did not precipitate keratomalacia. The few lesions present on the corneas of the vitamin A deficient animals were in the corneal periphery, which was less keratinized than the central cornea. Electron microscopy suggested that virus was capable of replicating in the basal and wing cells in the peripheral corneal lesions in the vitamin A deficient animals. These studies indicate that vitamin A deficiency alone may not predispose the host to more severe ocular herpesvirus infections.