Tripartite International Research for the Elimination of Trachoma

Summary

Mass antimicrobial administrations have been remarkably successful in reducing the prevalence of the ocular strains of Chlamydia that cause trachoma. Repeated distributions progressively lower the prevalence of infection, and in some cases may even result in local elimination. Mass treatments cannot be continued forever, due to concerns about cost and antibiotic resistance. The hope has been that other measures such as latrine construction and hygiene programs would prevent infection from returning. Unfortunately, no non-antibiotic measure has yet demonstrated an effect on infection. 1. We hypothesize that Chlamydial infection will return to communities when treatment ends. 2. We hypothesize that infection will be completely eliminated in all communities treated for seven years. 3. We hypothesize that identifying and treating clinically active cases among preschool aged children will delay or even prevent reemergence at a far lower cost than mass treatment of all individuals.

Timeline

Start

2010-11

Primary completion

2013-11

Completion

2014-05

Publications

• Mahmud H, Haile BA, Tadesse Z, Gebresillasie S, Shiferaw A, Zerihun M, Liu Z, Callahan EK, Cotter SY, Varnado NE, Oldenburg CE, Porco TC, Lietman TM, Keenan JD. Targeted Mass Azithromycin Distribution for Trachoma: A Community-Randomized Trial (TANA II). Clin Infect Dis. 2023 Aug 14;77(3):388-395. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciad211.
• Keenan JD, Gebresillasie S, Stoller NE, Haile BA, Tadesse Z, Cotter SY, Ray KJ, Aiemjoy K, Porco TC, Callahan EK, Emerson PM, Lietman TM. Linear growth in preschool children treated with mass azithromycin distributions for trachoma: A cluster-randomized trial. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2019 Jun 5;13(6):e0007442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007442. eCollection 2019 Jun.
• Keenan JD, Tadesse Z, Gebresillasie S, Shiferaw A, Zerihun M, Emerson PM, Callahan K, Cotter SY, Stoller NE, Porco TC, Oldenburg CE, Lietman TM. Mass azithromycin distribution for hyperendemic trachoma following a cluster-randomized trial: A continuation study of randomly reassigned subclusters (TANA II). PLoS Med. 2018 Aug 14;15(8):e1002633. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002633. eCollection 2018 Aug.

Drugs

Indications