The community epidemiology of trachoma.

Effective eradication of avoidable blindness due to trachoma requires an understanding of the epidemiologic determinants that promote the disease. These determinants include both host factors, such as age, sex, and race, and environmental determinants, including climate, water availability, and general socioeconomic conditions. All of these factors may drastically modify the incidence, prevalence, and severity of trachoma within a community. Longitudinal seroepidemiologic studies on the transmission of the infection have helped to elucidate the more important risk factors in trachomatous communities, and this information must be carefully considered in the assessment of proposed programs for trachoma control.