Schneider and H. Weiland were the investigators whose finding on the urinary excretion of vitamin A in severe infectious disease was cited by Dr. C. E. Gomperts in his discussion of the causes of xerophthalmie in Groot-Atjeh.
The finding
According to Schneider and H. Weiland, no vitamin A is excreted in the urine by normal subjects, even when enormous quantities are administered. In severe infectious diseases, by contrast, large quantities of vitamin A are excreted, which may be significant in the origin of a hypovitaminosis. The cause of this abnormal relation was attributed to a liver injury and an altered permeability for vitamin A in the kidneys.
Gomperts cited the work from the Klinische Wochenschrift of 1937, No. 3, as abstracted in the Nederlandsch Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde of 24 April 1937. It formed part of his examination of whether infectious disease could explain the distribution of xerophthalmia — an influence which, on his own tabulated data from the kampongs, “niet duidelijk tot uiting komt.”
The proposition nevertheless underlay the fifth point of his closing summary, that the combating of worm infection deserved great attention as a preventive measure, since the worms withdrew much food from the intestines and their excretion products might act harmfully on the internal glands.
See Also
Source
Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937 (“Orienting Ophthalmological Survey among the Atjehnese Population of Groot-Atjeh during 1937”), by Dr. C. E. Gomperts, offprint from the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië, Afl. 19, Deel 80 (1940), pp. 1191-1238 (Batavia-Centrum: G. Kolff & Co.). Received by the editors 25 October 1939. Offprint DLP-157, Bibliotheek KITLV.