Blinding trachoma among refugees: Complicating social disaster
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
;
(12): 124-127, 2015.
Article
in Chinese
| WPRIM
| ID: wpr-950883
ABSTRACT
Objective:
To determine the prevalence of blinding trachoma among refugees in South Western Ethiopia.Methods:
A cross-sectional outreach clinic based descriptive study was conducted on 1 054 refugees in Southwest Ethiopia. A basic eyelid and cornea examination for signs of trachoma was done by using 2.5× binocular magnifying loupe. The findings were classified by using the World Health Orgnization simplified trachoma grading system and data were analyzed by using SPSS version 16.0.Results:
A total of 1 054 refugee patients were examined for trachoma, 179 (16.98%) of them had clinical signs of trachoma. About 6 (3.35%) patients had active trachoma with trachomatous trichiasis (TT), 47 (26.26%) patients had TT only and the rest 126 (70.39%) patients had TT with trachomatous corneal opacity. All of the trachoma patients had blinding trachoma (TT with or without trachomatous corneal opacity), and about 60.89% of them had visual impairment. Blinding trachoma was significantly more common among females, patients in age group of 16-59 years, married patients, illiterates and Fugnido camp settlers (P<0.05).Conclusions:
There is a very high burden of blinding trachoma among refugees. Urgent surgical intervention is needed to prevent blindness and low vision in the study subjects, and targeted regular outreach-based eye care service should be commenced.
Full text:
Available
Index:
WPRIM (Western Pacific)
Language:
Chinese
Journal:
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
Year:
2015
Type:
Article
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