The National Trachoma Surveillance and Reporting Unit (NTSRU) was established in November 2006 to improve the quality and consistency of data collection and reporting of active trachoma in Australia. Active trachoma data collected in 2006, prior to the commencement of the NTSRU, were reported by the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. In most regions, Aboriginal children ...

Background: A number of suspected endemic districts with Trachoma have not been mapped in Malawi, and this contributes to delays for scaling up trachoma control activities. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of trachoma and associated risk factors in one of the suspected endemic districts (Salima District) in central Malawi and to generate information to guide policy decisions. Methods: A ...

among villages in the analysis. Furthermore, our analysis assessed the prevalence of clinically active trachoma in a village as opposed to its presence in an individual. A village-level analysis is most useful for trachoma program managers, who make treatment decisions based on the prevalence of trachoma in a village. Our findings suggest that in areas with hyperendemic trachoma treated through...

BACKGROUND Trachoma is a disease of the eye, caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis, which can lead to blindness if left untreated. Ethiopia is one of the most trachoma-affected countries in the world. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of and associated risk factors for active trachoma among children in selected woredas of North and South Wollo Zones in Amhara Re...

The last decade has seen significant progress towards the elimination of blinding trachoma as a health problem. However, gaps in our understanding of the epidemiology of trachoma at large scales are increasingly important in the context of programmatic scale up. This thesis therefore aimed to define the current distribution and burden of trachoma, in addition to investigating the spatial hetero...

Background Several non-chlamydial microbial pathogens are associated with clinical signs of active trachoma in trachoma-endemic communities with a low prevalence of ocular Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) infection. In the Solomon Islands, the prevalence of Ct among children is low despite the prevalence of active trachoma being moderate. Therefore, we set out to investigate whether active trachoma w...

OBJECTIVES Trachoma is the leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide. It is known to be highly correlated with poverty, limited access to healthcare services and water. In 2003, the WHO estimated that 84 million people were suffering from active trachoma, and 7.6 million were severely visually impaired or blind as a result of trachoma: this study provides an updated estimate of the global...

Trachoma, a chronic keratoconjunctivitis caused by the intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, is the leading infectious cause of blindness and affects the most underprivileged populations worldwide. An estimated 1.3 million people have been blinded, and there are more than 50 trachoma-endemic countries, mainly in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia [1,2]. In Latin America, countries such ...

Australia remains the only developed country to have endemic trachoma in some regions. Endemic levels of trachoma in Australia are found predominantly in remote and very remote Aboriginal communities. Data are collected from Aboriginal communities designated at risk for endemic trachoma (defined as a prevalence of 5% or greater among children) in the Northern Territory, South Australia and West...

BACKGROUND Trachoma, caused by ocular infection with Chlamydia trachomatis, is hyperendemic on the Bijagós Archipelago of Guinea Bissau. An understanding of the risk factors associated with active trachoma and infection on these remote and isolated islands, which are atypical of trachoma-endemic environments described elsewhere, is crucial to the implementation of trachoma elimination strategie...