Trachoma, is it history?

ABSTRACT

Chlamydia have co-evolved with humans and cause blinding trachoma when communities are stressed and families cannot maintain good hygiene. This permits repeated episodes of reinfection that produce a prolonged and intense immune-mediated inflammatory reaction [active trachoma] and leads to scatting and trichiasis. The promotion of clean faces and periodic antibiotic distribution [azithromycin] reduce the transmission of infection and are combined with trichiasis surgery and environmental improvement in the SAFE Strategy. This strategy has already eliminated trachoma from several countries and WHO aims to eliminate blinding trachoma worldwide by 2020