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REASONS FOR VISION IMPAIRMENT: TRACHOMA
A chronic disease caused by an organism identified neither as a virus or a bacterium but with some properties of both, attacks the cornea and conjunctiva. The resultant disease is call trachoma. The World Health Organization states that trachoma \"is the greatest single cause of progressive loss of sight\" among third world nations. Over half-a-billion people suffer from the disease.
It spreads by close contact, especially from one family member to the next. It may be carried by gnats and flies among those with poor hygiene, particularly in desert areas where lack of running water makes normal bathing impossible.
Trachoma treatment consists mainly of administering sulfonamide drugs, penicillin, and other antibiotic drugs. Following treatment and cure with antibiotics, upon the return of a formerly infected trachoma victim to similar unhygienic conditions, he is likely to contract the disease again.
The trachoma germ gradually causes scarring of the conjunctiva which spreads to the cornea. Apart from the Indians of the Southwestern United States and among poverty-stricken Mexican-Americans, the disease is uncommon in this country. Its symptoms might be confused with glaucoma by someone unfamiliar with the two conditions.
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GENERAL HEALTH
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