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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
Topical tetracycline and rifampicin therapy of endemic trachoma in Tunisia
American Journal of Ophthalmology, Volume 79, No. 5, Year 1975
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Description
A controlled chemotherapy trial of trachoma was carried out in a Tunisian oasis among schoolchildren with active disease. We compared 1% tetracycline ointment (79 patients) or 1% rifampicin ointment (76 patients) with 5% boric acid ointment (79 patients). Medications were administered twice daily, six days a week, for ten weeks. Slit-lamp examinations by three ophthalmologists were made independently before treatment as well as five, 19, and 39 weeks after treatment. Bacteriologic cultures were taken during treatment as were smears to detect trachoma agent at each clinical examination. Five weeks after treatment, the intensity of conjunctival disease in the tetracycline and rifampicin groups was reduced significantly when compared with boric acid, but at 19 weeks this suppression was found only in the tetracycline group. Ocular bacterial pathogens were eliminated almost entirely in the two antibiotic groups during treatment. The initial prevalence of trachoma (29 to 31%) was significantly reduced in the two antibiotic-treated groups at five weeks and 19 weeks after treatment. The prevalence of trachoma was equally low (7%) in all three groups following retreatment with tetracycline. Although both antibiotics were effective, rifampicin offered no advantage over tetracycline in this trial. Recurrent disease in this school-based treatment study probably was due to reinfection from younger siblings at home. While systematic, community-wide, antibiotic treatment programs are not always possible in countries where trachoma is endemic, limited antibiotic therapy programs should be continued in these areas to reduce the intensity and prevalence of trachoma, even though the disease cannot be eradicated. © 1975.
Authors & Co-Authors
Dawson, Chandler R.
United States, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
Hoshiwara, Isao
United States, Rockville
Indian Health Service
Daghfous, Toufique
Tunisia, Tunis
Institut D'ophtalmologie
Messadi, Mohammed
Tunisia, Tunis
Institut D'ophtalmologie
Vastine, David W.
United States, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
Schächter, Julius S.
United States, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
Statistics
Citations: 25
Authors: 6
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/0002-9394(75)90740-0
ISSN:
00029394
Research Areas
Cancer
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Locations
Tunisia