elimination of active trachoma after two topical mass treatments with azithromycin 1.5% eye drops消除活跃沙眼两局部质量与阿奇霉素治疗后1.5%的眼药水.pdfVIP

Elimination of Active Trachoma after Two Topical Mass Treatments with Azithromycin 1.5% Eye Drops 1 2 3 4 4 5 Abdou Amza , Pablo Goldschmidt , Ellen Einterz , Pierre Huguet *, Celine Olmiere , Philippe Bensaid , Lucienne Bella-Assumpta6 ´ ´ 1 Faculte des Sciences de la Sante, Niamey, Niger, 2 Laboratoire du CHNO des Quinze Vingts, Paris, France, 3 Kolofata District Health Service, Kolofata, Cameroon, ` 4 Laboratoires THEA, Clermont-Ferrand, France, 5 Ophtalmo Sans Frontieres, Luc¸on, France, 6 Ministry of Health, Yaounde, Cameroon Abstract Background: Following an epidemiological study carried out in 2006 showing a high prevalence of blinding trachoma in the Far North Region of Cameroon, a trachoma elimination programme using the SAFE strategy was initiated: three yearly trachoma mass treatments were to be performed. Methodology/Principal Findings: The entire district population (120,000 persons) was treated with azithromycin 1.5% eye drops in February 2008 and January 2009. To assess the effect of treatment on the prevalence of active trachoma, three epidemiological studies were conducted on a representative sample of children aged between 1 and 10 years. The first study was performed just prior to the first treatment, the second just prior to the 2nd treatment and the third one, one year later. The prevalence of active forms of trachoma (TF + TI) dropped from 31.5% (95%CI 26.4–37.5) before treatment to 6.3% (95%CI 4.1–9.6) one year after first treatment; a reduction of nearly 80%. One year after the second treatment, the prevalence decreased to 3.1% (95%CI 2.0–4.9), a