Preliminary Report on Field Studies of Trachoma Vaccine on Taiwan.

摘要

Trachoma is recognized to be a chronic long-lasting infection. Although the disease has a tendency to spontaneously heal, in some persons the activity continues with the eventual development of serious complications. The immunology of the disease is poorly understood. There has been no conclusive evidence that antibodies play a role in the natural history of trachoma. Clinically the disease is of the superficial cells without evidence of any deep invasion. The etiologic agent of trachoma has been recognized to be a virus of the psittacosis-lymphogranuloma venereum group, a group frequently associated with chronic infections and poor immune response. When trachoma viruses became available for study in the laboratory. the preparation of vaccines to carry out studies on the immunity of the disease was possible.