Trachoma Case Study

Referred to as “a forgotten disease of a forgotten people” by Paul Emerson, Director of the Trachoma Control Program at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia; trachoma is a hyperendemic of preventable blindness in the world. Trachoma is an ocular infection caused by intercellular parasite Chlamydia trachomatis. It thrives in dirty atmospheres with close proximities since the disease is spread by contact of infected eye and nose discharge through hands, towels and flies. Most of the risk factors include poor hygiene or lack of facial cleanliness, poor access to clean water or water storages, overcrowded households or lack of latrines, and an inadequate sanitation or plethora of flies. As a keratconjunctivitis, trachoma occurs from relentless and recurrent infections …show more content…
Trichiasis happens when abrasions occur on the upper eyelid continuously that entropion allows one or more eyelashes to turn inward and scrape the cornea; thus, vision loss. Currently, trachoma eradication is the mission of World Health Organization (WHO) and International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) by 2020. WHO created a 4 step program to end the progression. The program targets Surgery, Antibiotic, Facial cleaniness and Enviornmental factors (SAFE). With this strategy, trachoma is becoming more containable, but it is costly to sustain. Although trachoma has been treated with antibiotics (azithromycin), it is advisable to use a vaccine to prevent the infection and/or lessen its impact. A vaccine will develop immunity against the Chlamydia trachomatis bacterial strain that causes the infection. Cynomolgus macaques have an immune system very similar to humans; thus, will be the best fit model to predict the reaction in humans. Therefore, we hypothesize cynomologus macaques will develop immunity to the live-attenuated chlamydia vaccine. We test our theory by utilizing a weakened strain of C. trachomatis bacteria used as a vaccine to prevent or reduce the severity of trachoma in