Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2009 Oct 27;3(10):e460.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0000460.

The global burden of trachoma: a review

Matthew J Burton  1 , David C W Mabey
Affiliations
Review

The global burden of trachoma: a review

Matthew J Burton et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. .

Abstract

Trachoma is the commonest infectious cause of blindness worldwide. Recurrent infection of the ocular surface by Chlamydia trachomatis, the causative agent, leads to inturning of the eyelashes (trichiasis) and blinding corneal opacification. Trachoma is endemic in more than 50 countries. It is currently estimated that there are about 1.3 million people blind from the disease and a further 8.2 million have trichiasis. Several estimates for the burden of disease from trachoma have been made, giving quite variable results. The variation is partly because different prevalence data have been used and partly because different sequelae have been included. The most recent estimate from the WHO placed it at around 1.3 million Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). A key issue in producing a reliable estimate of the global burden of trachoma is the limited amount of reliable survey data from endemic regions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Clinical features of trachoma.
(A) Active trachoma in a child, characterised by a mixed papillary (TI) and follicular response (TF). (B) Tarsal conjunctival scarring (TS). (C) Entropion and trichiasis (TT). (D) Blinding CO with entropion and trichiasis (TT).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Map of trachoma endemic countries in 2009.
Reproduced with permission from Silvio P. Mariotti, WHO/NMH/PBD.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Resnikoff S, Pascolini D, Mariotti SP, Pokharel GP. Global magnitude of visual impairment caused by uncorrected refractive errors in 2004. Bull World Health Organ. 2008;86:63–70. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Resnikoff S, Pascolini D, Etya'ale D, Kocur I, Pararajasegaram R, et al. Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002. Bull World Health Organ. 2004;82:844–851. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Report of the 2nd global scientific meeting on trachoma. 2003. WHO/PBD/GET 03.1.
    1. Barenfanger J. Studies on the role of the family unit in the transmission of trachoma. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1975;24:509–515. - PubMed
    1. Burton MJ, Holland MJ, Faal N, Aryee EA, Alexander ND, et al. Which members of a community need antibiotics to control trachoma? Conjunctival Chlamydia trachomatis infection load in Gambian villages. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2003;44:4215–4222. - PubMed

Publication types