title: Facial cleanliness and risk of trachoma in families.
abstract: Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, and epidemiologic studies of factors that may increase the transmission of ocular Chlamydia trachomatis are needed. In two villages in a hyperendemic area of Central Tanzania, 472 (90%) of 527 preschool-aged children were examined for specific signs of unclean faces and presence of trachoma. The odds of trachoma were 70% higher in children with flies and nasal discharge on their faces. Other facial signs were not important. In large families, the odds of trachoma increased 4.8-fold if a sibling had trachoma and 6.8-fold if a sibling had trachoma and an unclean face. Health education strategies aimed at improving face washing need to target cleaning nasal discharge and keeping flies off children's faces.
authors.affiliation: Dana Center for Preventive Ophthalmology, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md 21205.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Congdon
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Katala
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mele
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005145:Face; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D007223:Infant; D015588:Observer Variation; D011897:Random Allocation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D014141:Trachoma / Q000453:epidemiology*