Trachoma

The leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide

Overview

Trachoma is an eye infection caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, spread through contact with eye and nose discharge, hands, cloths, and flies. Repeated infections, typically beginning in childhood, scar the inner eyelid; over years the scarring turns the lashes inward, a condition called trichiasis, which scratches and opacifies the cornea. It is concentrated in poor rural communities with limited water and sanitation. The World Health Organization SAFE strategy, Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleanliness, and Environmental improvement, underpins global elimination efforts, and several countries have been validated as having eliminated it.