Antibiotics are vital in the help for prevention of the disease as antibiotics can help stop the spread of the disease. Again there is a cost factor and also there is a factor of how effective the antibiotics are and this has to be weighed up against the benefits. It is still not sure which people should receive antibiotics and what kind of dosage as antibiotics have been proven to reduce active trachoma but the effects of the antibiotics is somewhat random , It helps some more than others and some people it may not help.
Facial washing is another way in which the disease can be prevented. If the face is clean surely there is a lower risk of infection. With the face being cleaner , the number of flies attracted to a clean face is reduced compared to that of a dirty face. This means that transmission via the fly vector will be reduced by facial washing. Facial washing can also be used in conjunction with antibiotics in the form of facial washes and this may result in a decrease of trachoma.
The obvious main way of stopping the spread of blinding trachoma is prevention. The idea of prevention is the one which has the chance of wiping out blinding trachoma , but this will not happen by itself, it needs to be carried out as well as the other factors we talked about in order to fully stop the disease ( i.e facial washing, antibiotics, surgery) . Prevention is the best cure. If u can stop the spread of the disease then ultimately the disease will decline. I think the best way of prevention is the raising of the importance of hygiene in the environmental conditions which are exposed to the people who are susceptible to the disease. A major spread of trachoma is in the water that is used. If water which is clean and readily available to these people then the spread can be reduced rather than the way it is in some places, where water is in short supply and must be shared extensively, where often dirty water is reused, This is the major way in which trachoma is spread in the water.
A key challenge to assessing programme impact is defining standards for its assessment with respect to each element of the SAFE strategy (3). This means that standards for the SAFE strategy must be set as well as targets so that it can prove effective. With standards comes quality. If standards are set then the quality of treatment will ultimately improve in most places. Standards are set so as to bring everyone to the same level, hopefully in the terms of hygiene, awareness and participation by the people. This means health education programmes, increased levels of surgery, the availability of clean water and general improvement in hygiene. One country in which the SAFE strategy has been highly successful is Morocco. The programme in this country has obtained a 90% reduction in trachoma since 1997. Based on this, there is strong evidence that Morocco will succeed in its effort to eliminate blinding trachoma as a public-health problem by 2005 (4).
Another more recent aspect in which is being studied is to see if anyone can develop a vaccine for the disease, a vaccine against the causing bacterium in general, the chlamydial group. Development of a vaccine against C. trachomatis, while challenging, is a high priority. Even a partially protective vaccine has been predicted, through computer modeling, to have a substantial effect on reducing infections globally (5). At present tho, the control of the disease by a vaccine seems to be years away as although a vaccine has been found that works in mice and rodents it does not have effect in humans. But the development of a vaccine seems to be a one which should be looked at thoroughly. Vaccination if possible in the future would mean that this disease could be eliminated and this would be a more effective way of elimination than just the SAFE program, If a vaccine can be produced, then in conjunction with the SAFE strategy I have no doubt that global blinding trachoma will no longer be existent. The successful development of avaccine may come after extensive research into the biochemistry, molecular biology and immunology of the causative bacteria, C. trachomatis.
The WHO has set a target for the elimination of blinding trachoma worldwide, with the target year set at 2020. Lets hope that this is the case and that this disease no longer exists in 2020 as it is an avoidable and preventable cause of blindness.
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References
(1)(2)(3) Blinding Trachoma: A Disease of Poverty
Pashtoon M Kasi, Ahmed I Gilani, Khabir Ahmad, and Naveed Z Janjua
Plos Med. 2004 November; 1(2): e44.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0010044. Published online 2004 November 30.
Vsited 12th April 2005
(4) The possibility of eliminating blinding trachoma
Jeffrey W Mecaskey, Charles A Knirsch, Jacob A Kumaresan and DrJoseph A Cook
The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Volume 3, Issue 11, November 2003, Pages 728-734
Vsited 11th April 2005
(5) Trachoma: new assault on an ancient disease • REVIEW ARTICLE
Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, Volume 23, Issue 4, July 2004, Pages 381-401
S.K.Sheila K. West
Visited 9th April 2005
