New Steps toward Eliminating Blinding Trachoma

Abstract

Despite long-standing efforts to control it, trachoma remains the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. According to the most recent estimates, some 84 million people have active trachoma (the infectious stage) in 55 countries in which the disease is endemic (Figure 1), and 7.6 million people have trachomatous trichiasis, the blinding stage of this infectious disease. Trachoma is a chronic keratoconjunctivitis caused by repeated reinfection with the ocular serotypes A, B, Ba, and C of Chlamydia trachomatis, an obligate intracellular bacterium. The infection causes a mucopurulent conjunctivitis that is generally self-healing without sequelae.Repeated episodes of chlamydial infection, . . .