Blindness as a complication or sequel in the acute infectious diseases has been repeatedly recorded in the literature. It has been known to occur in measles, varicella, variola, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, meningitis, encephalitis and pertussis.
A great variety of cerebral complications have been described in association with whooping cough. Convulsions, monoplegia, hemiplegia, diplegia, paraplegia, aphasia, meningeal and cerebral hemorrhages, meningitis, encephalitis, thrombosis of the sinuses of the brain, deafness, blindness and idiocy have been observed. Reports of some of these complications or sequelae have been frequently published; others, because of their rare occurrence, have been mentioned rarely. I have observed only one patient with loss of speech complicating pertussis, a boy, aged 6 years. He did not have convulsive seizures or paralysis. He suddenly lost his speech after one of the paroxysmal coughs, and could not talk for five weeks. Then he began to regain his power of