Latrine ownership as a protective factor in inflammatory trachoma in Egypt.
We investigated the association between inflammatory trachoma in children aged 1-5 and environmental and sociodemographic risk factors in a rural Nile Delta hamlet. Inflammatory trachoma clustered in households, emphasising the child-to-child nature of transmission in the hamlet. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed three factors predicting inflammatory trachoma in children: the absence of a latrine in the household, school-age siblings with inflammatory trachoma, and additional same-age siblings (with or without disease) in the household. In the Egyptian setting the presence of pit latrines in all houses, even when full and unscreened, might result in a reduction in trachoma prevalence in this population from the current 49% to 35%. The construction of pit latrines may offer the simplest and most acceptable environmental method for reducing trachoma in this trachoma endemic area.
Courtright
P
P
Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco.
Sheppard
J
J
Lane
S
S
Sadek
A
A
Schachter
J
J
Dawson
C R
CR
D002675:Child, Preschool; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014038:Toilet Facilities; D014141:Trachoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission