Bibliography

"Vision-Night Blindness." Medline Plus. 5 Nov. 2007. 10 Nov. 2007 http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003039.htm.

"Nyctalopia." Wikipedia. 3 Nov. 2007. 12 Nov. 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_blindness.

Night Blindness Slide Show

 

Map of Areas with Night blindness

(Click on the map to make it larger)

History of Night Blindness

• Nyctalopia is Greek for night blindness
• Aulus Cornelius Celsus described night blindness around 30 A.D. and gave some ideas for special diets:
  
• "There is besides a weakness of the eyes, owing to which people see well enough indeed in the daytime but not at all at night... But success sufferers should anoint their eyeballs with the stuff dripping from a liver whilst roasting, preferably of a he-goat, or failing that of a she-goat; and as well they should eat some of the liver itself."

• A long time ago, nyctalopia was also known as moonblink
  
• It was a temporary night blindness thought to be caused by sleeping in moonlight in the tropics

Causes of (and some solutions to) Night blindness

• One of the main causes for night blindness in impoverished countries is lack of vitamin A
• In America, it is mostly caused by retinis pigmentosa, a disorder involving the rod cells in the retina
  
• Night blindness can also be from birth defects, certain drugs, and other eye-related problems
• Most children in America get vitamin A shots when they are children, but in most countries, people cannot afford them
• Even when a person starts to get night blindness, they could prevent it by getting the shot
• But in impoverished countries, that person usually won't get the shot
  
• That is why a lot of children are blind in some countries
  
• Some foods that have a lot of vitamin A in them are carrots, potatoes, oranges, and more
• These foods won't cure night blindness, though

Night blindness - basic information on the disease

• Nyctanopia and Nyctalopia are some more names for it
• It causes many adults and children to not be able see well or, in some cases, see at all
• It is a major problem that often goes overlooked in poverty-swept nations
• It starts out to be not much of a problem and at that point it is treatable. Then it gets worse and after a while the person will go completely blind
• We need to realize that it is a big problem and then take action against it
  

The Beginning of the End

This is the beginning of Grayson's, R. Davis's, and Spence's blog on Night Blindness for Social Studies. Enjoy.