Trachoma

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**Trachoma**
*Classification & external resources*
ICD-10	A 71.
ICD-9	076
DiseasesDB	29100
MedlinePlus	001486
eMedicine	oph/118
MeSH	D014141

Trachoma (Ancient Greek: "rough eye") is a highly contagious eye disease which may result in blindness. It is caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis and it is spread by direct contact with eye, nose, and throat secretions from affected individuals, or contact with objects, such as towels and/or washcloths, that have had similar contact with these secretions.

1 Symptoms
2 Prognosis
3 History
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Symptoms

The bacteria has an incubation period of 5 to 12 days, after which the affected individual experiences symptoms of conjunctivitis, or irritation similar to "pink eye."

Further symptoms include:

Eye discharge
Swollen eyelids
Trichiasis (turned-in eyelashes)
Swelling of lymph nodes in front of the ears
Corneal scarring

[edit] Prognosis

If not treated properly with oral antibiotics, the symptoms may escalate and cause blindness, which is the result of ulceration and consequent scarring of the cornea. Surgery may also be necessary to fix eyelid deformities.

[edit] History

The disease is one of the earliest recorded eye afflictions, having been identified as early as 27 B.C. Most people affected with trachoma live primarily in underdeveloped and poverty-stricken countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Rare in the United States, the disease can be treated with antibiotics and prevented with adequate hygiene and education. According to the Centers for Disease Control, "No national or international surveillance [for trachoma] exists. Blindness due to trachoma has been eliminated from the United States. The last cases were found among American Indian populations and in Appalachia."^[1]

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act designating funds for the eradication of the disease.^[2] By the late 1930s, a number of ophthalmologists reported success in treating trachoma with sulfonamide antibiotics^[3]. In 1948, Vincent Tabone (who was later to become the President of Malta) was entrusted with the supervision of a campaign to treat trachoma using sulfonamide tablets and drops. ^[4]