Prevalence and Risk Factors for Trachoma in a Rural Southern Ethiopian Population
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Date
1989-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The prevalence and risk facto.s associated with the
occurrence of trachoma in the rural population of Sidama district
of the Southern Ethiopia was studied . From 18/11/88 to 7/12/88 ,
1, 222 randomly selected subjects were enrolled. Each subject
received eye examination and completed an interv iew. Subjects
with active trachoma (cases) and those with no eye d isease
(controls) were compared for rates of exposure to economic,
educational, behavioral and environmental characteristics.
The prevalence of active trachoma was found to be 16. 5% in
the general population, 19 . 7% in children under the age of 10
years and 22% in those over 45 year olds . A significant ly higher
prevalence of active trachoma was found in females among those 10
to 44 years of age .
Ri sk factors
included low
for active
lncome, low
trachoma i dentified
education, poor
sanitation, and infreque nt fa c e wash ing and bathing.
i~ th i s study
envi r onmental
This s tudy
represents the first community based epidemiologica l survey of
trachoma in Southern Ethiopia. The results conf i rm the high
prevalence of trachoma and the association of trachoma wi th poor
personal and e nvironmenta l hygiene. From the knowledge gained in
this study more effective cont rol strategies in rural di stricts
are recommended.
Description
Keywords
Trachoma