[Fight against trachoma, from rearguard to advance guard].

Trachoma with its typical deformation of the eyelashes (trichiasis) is a blinding affection, well-known since Antiquity. But while in the XIXth century the disease was universally endemic, today it is restricted to poverty-stricken areas in the world. This highly contagious affection was eliminated in the industrialised countries before the era of antibiotherapy and even before the identification of the germ. Which lesson to draw from this historical retrospect? Present fighting against this plague epitomized by the WHO-supported Alliance might mean more than the last episode of a vestigial disease. It might herald the implementation of a fully modern strategy, combining the transformation of social ecology and the improvement of quality of human life.