title: [Recovery from blindness following smallpox or measles: Dutch miracle stories, 14th-18th century].
abstract: Over recent decades, stories of miracles dating from 1380-1726 have been transcribed and are now generally available. These texts only contain a limited amount of medical information. This article closely examines the stories of being cured of blindness after being infected by smallpox or measles. Most of these stories concern children. Eleven of a total of 1700 stories that took place during the above-mentioned period of time concern this type of miracle. The article examines the possible relationship between these miracles and a lack of vitamin A.
authors.affiliation: Elkerliek ziekenhuis, afd. Radiologie, Helmond, The Netherlands. hansveldtwee@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van den Broek
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000209:etiology* / Q000266:history*; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D008457:Measles / Q000150:complications / Q000266:history*; D009426:Netherlands; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012899:Smallpox / Q000150:complications / Q000266:history*; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014802:Vitamin A Deficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D014801:Vitamin A