Elimination of trachoma: are we in danger of being blinded by the randomised controlled trial?

摘要

The past decade has seen a major reduction in the burden of infectious blindness, of which trachoma is the leading cause. Repeated infection with the obligate intracellular bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis results in the clinical syndrome of blinding trachoma. Trachoma progresses from inflammation of the upper tarsal conjunctiva to scarring; distortion of the eyelid causes trichiasis and eventual loss of vision secondary to corneal opacity.