Poor hygiene practices make the problem worse.Īnyone can get trachoma but it’s more common in women and children. Trachoma thrives in places without clean water and sanitation, where people have limited access to health care, and there are lots of flies around. Each new infection causes more scarring under the eyelid which eventually turns the eyelashes inwards so that they scrape against the eyeball. This is uncomfortable, but more serious problems start when people get repeated infections. At the start, your eyes might be itchy or irritated and contain mucus or pus. Trachoma is an infectious disease caused by a bacteria called chlamydia trachomatis. A simple antibiotic can cure the infection and in advanced cases, there is straightforward surgery on the eyelid which can revert the eyelid to end the pain and stop any further loss of eyesight.
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The good news is that trachoma is preventable and huge progress is being made around the world to eliminate it as a public health problem.
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We often find people using homemade tweezers to pull out their eyelashes or even razor blades to cut them down. It also causes sensitivity to bright light so just going outdoors can be an agony. People describe the pain as like having sand or thorns scratching their eyes. In advanced cases, after repeated infection, trachoma causes scarring of the inner surface of the eyelids making the eyelashes turn inward and scrape against the eye – this is called trachomatous trichiasis. It is the reason that about 1.9 million people around the world are blind or visually impaired. Trachoma is the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness.
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Bronze Age forceps for depilation, thought to have been used to remove affected people’s eyelashes, have been found in modern Iraq and the disease was common in Ancient Egypt with treatments discussed in the Ebers Papyrus written more than 3,500 years ago. Trachoma is one of the oldest diseases known to humans. Country Director of Sightsavers Nigeria, Dr Sunday Isiyaku, tells LARA ADEJORO why it is important for Nigeria to eliminate trachoma, said to be the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness