RESEARCH ARTICLE

The Relationship between Active Trachoma and Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis Infection before and after Mass Antibiotic Treatment Athumani M. Ramadhani1,2*, Tamsyn Derrick1,2, David Macleod3, Martin J. Holland1, Matthew J. Burton1,4 1 Clinical Research Department, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, 2 Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Moshi, Tanzania, 3 Tropical Epidemiology Group. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, 4 Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom

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* [email protected]

Abstract OPEN ACCESS Citation: Ramadhani AM, Derrick T, Macleod D, Holland MJ, Burton MJ (2016) The Relationship between Active Trachoma and Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis Infection before and after Mass Antibiotic Treatment. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 10(10): e0005080. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005080 Editor: Joseph M. Vinetz, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, UNITED STATES

Background Trachoma is a blinding disease, initiated in early childhood by repeated conjunctival infection with the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. The population prevalence of the clinical signs of active trachoma; ‘‘follicular conjunctivitis” (TF) and/or ‘‘intense papillary inflammation” (TI), guide programmatic decisions regarding the initiation and cessation of mass drug administration (MDA). However, the persistence of TF following resolution of infection at both the individual and population level raises concerns over the suitability of this clinical sign as a marker for C. trachomatis infection.

Received: July 25, 2016 Accepted: September 28, 2016

Methodology/Principle Findings

Published: October 26, 2016

We systematically reviewed the literature for population-based studies and those including randomly selected individuals, which reported the prevalence of the clinical signs of active trachoma and ocular C. trachomatis infection by nucleic acid amplification test. We performed a meta-analysis to assess the relationship between active trachoma and C. trachomatis infection before and after MDA. TF and C. trachomatis infection were strongly correlated prior to MDA (r = 0.92, 95%CI 0.83 to 0.96, p

The Relationship between Active Trachoma and Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis Infection before and after Mass Antibiotic Treatment.

Trachoma is a blinding disease, initiated in early childhood by repeated conjunctival infection with the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia tr...
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