Back to the Patient article on Inflammatory eye diseases that can sometimes cause atrophy and scotomata. Our next broad topic after parasites – yuck- and viruses is fungal infections.
Histoplasma capsulatum can “cause vision problem related to exudative maculopathy.” Translation? Oozing, diseased macula. This page is just one happy thought after another!
Then there are mycobacterial infections. A quick search revealed (using the Merck Manual) that certain forms of mycobacteria cause tuberculosis. Another one causes leprosy. As most of us know, these two diseases are now rare in developed countries. However rare, though, don’t count them out yet. Yours truly tests positive for TB.
Then we get to the spirochaetal infections. Syphilis can affect various parts of the eye, including the retina. Ocular syphilis is rare.
How about Lyme disease? Reading this article I discovered that is a spirochaetal infection as well.
Personal observation of people and animals with Lyme disease has led me to believe it can attack any of the body systems. When it attacks the eye it can cause a number of issues including retinal vasculitis and exudative retinal detachment.
Retinal vasculitis is, according to Wiki, inflammation of the branches of the retinal arteries. This condition can cause blurred vision, floaters, scotomata and decreased ability to distinguish colors. Sounds like someone I know.
Wikipedia lists several, other reasons for scotomata. High blood pressure can damage the retina. Ingestion of wood alcohol is another thing. Ethambutol is an anti-tuberculosis drug that has been found to have the potential for damaging the retina. Quinine is another. Quinine is, of course, for malaria as well as some other things of which I am not aware. Nutritional deficits can also cause retina damage. In short, there are probably a couple of dozen different ways to have retina damage without a genetic cause.
So that is what I found for my first, member-requested assignment. Macular atrophy does not necessarily have to come from a genetically-based condition such as AMD or diabetes. There are a large number of diseases and even poisonous substances that can cause damage. I have mentioned a number of them in this page as well as the previous page.
I know Lin has a few things she wants me to look into, but that does not mean I won’t do requests from YOU. Keep those cards and letters coming. What else do we want to learn about?
Written September 29th, 2018