What is trachoma?

What is trachoma?Trachoma, the most common infectious cause of blindness, is caused by Chlamydia trachomatis. Children who have the active stages of the disease are the reservoir of infection, while blindness, which occurs after repeated episodes of infection, principally affects adults. Boys and girls are equally affected by active infection, but blindness is more common in women. Trachoma is linked with poverty: it affects communities that have poor water supply and sanitation, and poor health services. It is transmitted from person to person through direct and indirect contact and by flies. Blindness can be prevented by surgery to correct the turning-in of the upper eyelid (trichiasis),while the infection and its transmission can be reduced with surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness and environmental improvement (the SAFE strategy).

CurrentlyTrachoma affects the poorest and most remote rural areas of Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Australia and the Middle East. It is endemic in 55 countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Australia, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The number of people affected has dropped from 360 million in 1985 to about 80 million today. There are approximately 10.6 million people (mainly women) with in-turned eyelids (entropion trichiasis), for which eyelid surgery is needed to prevent blindness. An estimated 8 million adults are irreversibly visually impaired from corneal scarring due to trachoma.