Blinding trachoma is a terrible disease. The intense conjunctival inflammation in young children causes conjunctiva! scarring, leading in adult life to inturned eyelashes (trichiasis) that rub on the eye and cause painful blindness. In The Lancet today, Jenafir House and colleagues report a study in hyperendemic communities in Ethiopia.1 In such areas more than half of children are affected, almost every adult has scarring, and 10-20% of older people have trichiasis. Trachoma is now restricted to poor developing areas, having disappeared from Europe and North America where only a century ago it was a major problem.
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