Abstract
Realistically, global elimination of trachoma could not have been considered until the maturation of innovation and public will that converged with the formation of both the Alliance for the Global Elimination of Trachoma by the year 2020 (GET2020) in 1997 and the public-private partnership, the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) in 1998. Public-private partnerships are cross-sector collaborations that bring heterogeneous capabilities together to work on difficult problems for which the individual partners share common goals. The work of the ITI and partners to date demonstrates that the SAFE strategy reviewed in this article can work, and that it will revolutionize the control of blinding trachoma. Programs working to eliminate trachoma can achieve the GET2020 goals through expanded partnerships, commitment, and research on program integration into evolving health systems.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References and Recommended Reading
Kumaresan J: Can blinding trachoma be eliminated by 20/20? Eye 2005, 19:1067–1073.
Knirsch CA, Mecaskey J, Chami-Khazraji Y, et al.: Trachoma elimination and a public private partnership: The International Trachoma Initiative (ITI). In Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Human Chlamydial Infections. Edited by Schachter J, Christiansen G, Clarke IN, et al. San Francisco: International Chlamydia Symposium; 2002:485–494.
Mabey D: Chlamydia infections. In Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Human Chlamydial Infections. Edited by Chernesky M, Caldwell H, Christiansen G, et al. San Francisco: International Chlamydial Symposium; 2006:315–324.
Mabey D, Solomon A, Foster A: Trachoma. Lancet 2003, 362:223–229.
Rischard JF: High Noon: Twenty Global Problems, Twenty Years to Solve Them. New York: Basic Books; 2002.
Reich MR: Public-private partnerships for public health. Nature 2000, 6:617–620.
Hripcsak G, Knirsch CA, Jain N, et al.: A health information network for managing inner-city tuberculosis: bridging clinical care, public health, and home care. Comput Biomed Res 1999 32:67–76.
Kumaresan JA, Mecaskey JW: The global elimination of blinding trachoma: progress and promise. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2003 69(5 Suppl):24–28.
Bailey RL, Arullendran P, Whittle HC, Mabey DC: Randomised controlled trial of single-dose azithromycin in treatment of trachoma. Lancet 1993, 342:453–456.
Tabbara KF, Abu-el-Asrar A, al-Omar O, et al.: Single-dose azithromycin in the treatment of trachoma. A randomized, controlled study. Ophthalmology 1996, 103:842–846.
Dawson CR, Schachter J, Sallam S, et al.: A comparison of oral azithromycin with topical oxytetracycline/polymyxin for the treatment of trachoma in children. Clin Infect Dis 1997, 24:363–368.
Schachter J, West SK, Mabey D, et al.: Azithromycin in control of trachoma. Lancet 1999, 354:630–635.
World Health Organization: Future approaches to trachoma control: report of a global scientific meeting, Geneva, 17–20 June, 1996. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/1996/WHO_PBL_96.56.pdf. Accessed October 10, 2006.
Dawson C, Schachter J: Can blinding trachoma be eliminated worldwide? Arch Ophthalmol 1999, 117:974.
Ngondi J, Onsarigo A, Matthews F, et al.: Effect of 3 years of SAFE (surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, and environmental change) strategy for trachoma control in southern Sudan: a cross-sectional study. Lancet 2006, 368:589–595.
Kuper H, Solomon AW, Buchan J, et al.: A critical review of the SAFE strategy for the prevention of blinding trachoma. Lancet Infect Dis 2003, 3:372–381.
Reacher MH, Munoz B, Alghasany A, et al.: A controlled trial of surgery for trachomatous trichiasis of the upper lid. Arch Ophthalmol 1992, 110:667–674.
West S, Munoz B, Lynch M, et al.: Impact of face-washing on trachoma in Kongwa, Tanzania. Lancet 1995, 345:155–158.
Emerson PM, Cairncross S, Bailey RL, Mabey DC: Review of the evidence base for the ‘F’ and ‘E’ components of the SAFE strategy for trachoma control. Trop Med Int Health 2000, 5:515–527.
Mecaskey JW, Knirsch CA, Kumaresan JA, Cook JA: The possibility of eliminating blinding trachoma. Lancet Infect Dis 2003, 3:728–734.
Resnikoff S, Pascolini D, Etya’ale D, et al.: Global data on visual impairment in the year 2002. Bull World Health Organ 2004, 82:844–851.
Boost M, Cho P: High incidence of trachoma in rural areas of Guangxi, China. Lancet Infect Dis 2005, 5:735–736.
Natividad A, Wilson J, Koch O, et al.: Risk of trachomatous scarring and trichiasis in Gambians varies with SNP haplotypes at the interferon-gamma and interleukin-10 loc. Genes Immun 2005, 6:332–340.
Gradle H: Discussion of Loe.: Sulfanilamide treatment of trachoma. JAMA 1938, 111:1371–1372.
Schachter J, Dawson CR: Human Chlamydial Infections. Littleton, MA: PSG Publishing Company; 1978.
Frick KD, Lietman TM, Holm SO, et al.: Cost-effectiveness of trachoma control measures: comparing targeted household treatment and mass treatment of children. Bull World Health Organ 2001, 79:201–207.
Solomon AW, Holland MJ, Alexander ND, et al.: Mass treatment with single-dose azithromycin for trachoma. N Engl J Med 2004, 351:1962–1971.
West SK, Munoz B, Mkocha H, et al.: Infection with Chlamydia trachomatis after mass treatment of a trachoma hyperendemic community in Tanzania: a longitudinal study. Lancet 2005, 366:1296–1300.
Burton MJ, Holland MJ, Makalo P, et al.: Re-emergence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection after mass antibiotic treatment of a trachoma-endemic Gambian community: a longitudinal study. Lancet 2005, 365:1321–1328.
Chidambaram JD, Alemayehu W, Melese M, et al.: Effect of a single mass antibiotic distribution on the prevalence of infectious trachoma. JAMA 2006, 295:1142–1146.
Hotez PJ, Molyneux DH, Fenwick A, et al.: Incorporating a rapid-impact package for neglected tropical diseases with programs for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. PLoS Med 2006, 3(e102):576–584.
Wright HR, Keeffe JE, Taylor HR: Trachoma and the need for a coordinated community-wide response: a case-based study. PLoS Med 2006, 3(e41):186–190.
Leach AJ, Shelby-James TM, Mayo M, et al.: A prospective study of the impact of community-based azithromycin treatment of trachoma on carriage and resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Clin Infect Dis 1997, 24:356–362.
Fry AM, Jha HC, Lietman TM, et al.: Adverse and beneficial secondary effects of mass treatment with azithromycin to eliminate blindness due to trachoma in Nepal. Clin Infect Dis 2002, 35:395–402.
Whitty CJ, Glasgow KW, Sadiq ST, et al.: Impact of community-based mass treatment for trachoma with oral azithromycin on general morbidity in Gambian children. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1999, 18:955–958.
Batt SL, Charalambous BM, Solomon AW, et al.: Impact of azithromycin administration for trachoma control on the carriage of antibiotic resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2003, 47:2765–2769.
Solomon AW, Mohammed Z, Massae PA, et al.: Impact of mass distribution of azithromycin on the antibiotic susceptibilities of ocular Chlamydia trachomatis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2005, 49:4804–4806.
Somani J, Bhullar VB, Workowski KA, et al.: Multiple drug-resistant Chlamydia trachomatis associated with clinical treatment failure. J Infect Dis 2000, 181:1421–1427.
West SK, West ES, Alemayehu W, et al.: Single-dose azithromycin prevents trichiasis recurrence following surgery: randomized trial in Ethiopia. Arch Ophthalmol 2006, 124:309–314.
Burton MJ, Kinteh F, Jallow O, et al.: A randomised controlled trial of azithromycin following surgery for trachomatous trichiasis in the Gambia. Br J Ophthalmol 2005, 89:1282–1288.
Gray RH, Wabwire-Mangen F, Kigozi G, et al.: Randomized trial of presumptive sexually transmitted disease therapy during pregnancy in Rakai, Uganda. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001, 185:1209–1217.
Workowski KA, Berman SM: Sexually transmitted diseases treatment guidelines, 2006. MMWR Recomm Rep 2006, 55(RR-11):1–94.
Baral K, Osaki S, Shreshta B, et al.: Reliability of clinical diagnosis in identifying infectious trachoma in a low-prevalence area of Nepal. Bull World Health Organ 1999, 77:461–466.
Michel CE, Solomon AW, Magbanua JP, et al.: Field evaluation of a rapid point-of-care assay for targeting antibiotic treatment for trachoma control: a comparative study. Lancet 2006, 367:1585–1590.
Myatt M, Mai NP, Quynh NQ, et al.: Using lot quality-assurance sampling and area sampling to identify priority areas for trachoma control: Viet Nam. Bull World Health Organ 2005, 83:756–763.
Crane DD, Carlson JH, Fischer ER, et al.: Chlamydia trachomatis polymorphic membrane protein D is a species-common pan-neutralizing antigen. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2006, 103:1894–1899.
Ellis JJ: Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. New York: Random House; 2000.
Barr RG, Diez-Roux AV, Knirsch CA, Pablos-Mendez A: Neighborhood poverty and the resurgence of tuberculosis in New York City, 1984–1992. Am J Public Health 2001, 91:1487–1493.
Sachs J: The End of Poverty. New York: Penguin Books; 2005.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Knirsch, C. Trachoma: Ancient scourge, disease elimination, and future research. Curr Infect Dis Rep 9, 21–28 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-007-0018-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-007-0018-z