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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffFactors that increase your risk of contracting trachoma include:
- Poverty. Trachoma is primarily a disease of extremely poor populations.
- Crowded living conditions. People living in close contact are at greater risk of spreading infection.
- Poor sanitation. Poor hygienic conditions facilitate spread of the disease.
- Age. In areas where the disease is endemic, it's most common in children ages 3 to 6.
- Sex. Women contract the disease at higher rates than men do. Women are also blinded up to three times more often than men are.
- Poor access to water. Households at greater distances from a water supply are more susceptible to infection.
- Flies. People living in areas with problems controlling the fly population may be more susceptible.
- Lack of latrines. Populations without access to working latrines — a type of communal toilet — have a higher incidence of the disease.
References
- Trachoma. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/trachoma/en/index.html. Accessed May 20, 2010.
- What is trachoma? International Trachoma Initiative. http://www.trachoma.org/core/sub.php?cat=trachoma&id=trachoma. Accessed May 20, 2010.
- Conjunctivitis. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec09/ch101/ch101c.html#sec09-ch101-ch101c-273. Accessed May 20, 2010.
- WHO simplified trachoma grading system. Community Eye Health. 2004;17:52. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1705737. Accessed May 20, 2010.
- Wright HR. Epidemiology, diagnosis, and management of trachoma. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed May 20, 2010.
- Trachoma. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/trachoma_t.htm. Accessed May 20, 2010.
- Robertson DM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. June 1, 2010.
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