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Trachoma: elderly are not immune

8 Oct 2008

Paul Chinnock

Source: International Trachoma Initiative (see original article)

Thursday 9th October is World Sight Day and the theme of the event for 2008 is vision impairment in the elderly. The main blinding conditions affecting older people are cataract, refractive error, macular degeneration and glaucoma. However, in a press statement the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) has cautioned that the elderly are not immune from the affects of blinding trachoma. An elderly person who has suffered from repeated trachoma infections earlier in life is highly susceptible to losing his or her sight: as time passes, damage from scarring results in the inward turning of the eyelashes, resulting in corneal scratching and blindness.

ITI stresses, however, that is preventable and treatable. It points out that the success of the World Health Organization’s SAFE strategy for the elimination of blinding trachoma has already been seen in Morocco, and several countries are on track to eliminate trachoma by the year 2020.

For more on trachoma and the SAFE strategy link to the WHO web page here.