EXPERIMENTAL SYPHILIS IN THE RABBIT : VII. AFFECTIONS OF THE EYES

From the study of a number of instances of eye infection in the rabbit, it was found that a variety of affections might occur following scrotal or testicular inoculations of Treponema pallidum. Those observed included ciliary injection, conjunctivitis, keratitis, and iritis which might occur separately or in combination with one another, except that keratitis and iritis were always accompanied by a reaction in the ciliary vessels and usually by a conjunctivitis. Several forms of each of these affections were described, and while some of them were regarded as presenting a very characteristic picture, it was recognized that the conditions present in other cases were not sufficiently distinctive to permit of a clinical diagnosis. With a few exceptions, however, the pathology of the lesions was sufficient to identify them as processes of a syphilitic nature. It was also found that this group of lesions usually arose from a common focus of infection which was located in the episcleral tissues immediately surrounding the cornea. From this point, the infection tended to spread to the conjunctiva and the cornea, or toward the canal of Schlemm and the spaces of Fontana and thence to the ciliary body, the iris, and the choroid. The localization of the lesion and the mode of extension were held to be responsible for the combination of manifestations usually observed. From an analysis of the circumstances under which affections of the eyes occurred, it was found that the great majority of them occupied a definite position in the scheme of tissue reactions, being the only generalized lesions developed or the last type of lesion to appear. These facts, together with the unusual frequency of relapse in these affections, were believed to indicate that a low degree of protection was conferred upon these tissues by reactions taking place elsewhere and that the protection afforded by the local reaction was of a feeble character. This deduction was in part confirmed by the fact that it was found to be possible to increase or decrease the incidence of eye lesions by the use of experimental means which varied the scheme of reaction in animals inoculated with a given strain of Treponema pallidum.