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Trachoma

Trachoma (conjunctivitis granulosa) · Trachom

What it is

Repeated Chlamydia trachomatis eye infections in childhood scar the inner eyelid until the lashes turn in and scrape the cornea blind; the leading infectious cause of blindness, spread by hands, cloth and flies where water is scarce.

Symptoms & signs

  • Red, sticky eyes in young children
  • follicles under the upper eyelid
  • scarred inner eyelid
  • in-turned lashes scraping the eye (trichiasis)
  • pain and light sensitivity
  • clouded cornea and blindness

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Sudden painful red eye with vision loss
  • see a doctor soon Eyelashes turning in and rubbing the eye
  • see a doctor soon Sticky, red eyes in a child that keep coming back
  • see a doctor soon Cloudy patch on the clear front of the eye

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • WHO SAFE strategy: surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, environmental improvement
  • Azithromycin, one oral dose to the whole community yearly (mass treatment); tetracycline eye ointment for infants and pregnancy trials support
  • Eyelid surgery for trichiasis — lashes return in a fifth or more within two years trials support
  • corneal transplant rarely helps a scarred eye

Natural & lifestyle

  • Face washing with clean water
  • latrines and a nearby water supply
  • fewer eye-seeking flies: dung kept away from homes

Emerging & experimental

  • Vaccines against ocular chlamydia
  • antibody and PCR surveillance to confirm elimination

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Plucking in-turned lashes (epilation) — an Ethiopian trial found it close to surgery for mild trichiasis; the lashes regrow mixed evidence
  • Traditional eye remedies (herbal pastes, kohl) — untested; can carry infection anecdotal / traditional

ICD codes