Q. TRACHOMA

Trachoma and infectious conjunctivitis are communicable diseases which produce a high percentage of blindness and disabling eye lesions if neglected. Only fragmentary statistics are available, but it is estimated that more than 400 million people over one-seventh of the total world population are affected. Of these an estimated 10 million will become blind.

These diseases are essentially associated with poverty, poor sanitation, and ignorance. Although they affect all age groups, the incidence in children may be especially high in certain areas. In some sections of North Africa, where practically the entire adult population is suffering from these diseases, the rates among children of preschool age are sometimes 70 to 100 percent. In India, rates in some localities have reached 78 percent and a recent survey in Taiwan uncovered a 48 percent incidence among children. New areas of endemicity have been discovered recently in South Africa and western Australia. Trachoma has been known for many years among Indians in the southwestern part of the United States but is rapidly vanishing in this country through improved sanitation and treatment.

Obviously, these diseases impose a tremendous economic burden on any country in which they are prevalent. Blindness or badly impaired vision reduces greatly the earning power and productive capacity of population groups. In Tunisia, for example, a country of 3.5 million persons and an infection rate of 40 to 50 percent, these diseases cause the loss of 25 million working days a year. Beyond that, the cost of caring for these individuals serves to further increase the burden.

Mass campaigns employing sulfa drugs and antibiotics have shown good results in controlling these diseases in Morocco, Taiwan, and Tunisia. Similar efforts have been initiated in Egypt, Indonesia, Spain, and Yugoslavia.