Prevalence And Risk Factors For Trachoma In A Rural Southern Ethiopian Population

The prevalence and risk facto.s associated with thernoccurrence of trachoma in the rural population of Sidama districtrnof the Southern Ethiopia was studied . From 18/11/88 to 7/12/88 ,rn1, 222 randomly selected subjects were enrolled. Each subjectrnreceived eye examination and completed an interv iew. Subjectsrnwith active trachoma (cases) and those with no eye d iseasern(controls) were compared for rates of exposure to economic,rneducational, behavioral and environmental characteristics.rnThe prevalence of active trachoma was found to be 16. 5% inrnthe general population, 19 . 7% in children under the age of 10rnyears and 22% in those over 45 year olds . A significant ly higherrnprevalence of active trachoma was found in females among those 10rnto 44 years of age .rnRi sk factorsrnincluded lowrnfor activernlncome, lowrntrachoma i dentifiedrneducation, poorrnsanitation, and infreque nt fa c e wash ing and bathing.rni~ th i s studyrnenvi r onmentalrnThis s tudyrnrepresents the first community based epidemiologica l survey ofrntrachoma in Southern Ethiopia. The results conf i rm the highrnprevalence of trachoma and the association of trachoma wi th poorrnpersonal and e nvironmenta l hygiene. From the knowledge gained inrnthis study more effective cont rol strategies in rural di strictsrnare recommended.

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