Trachoma is a bacterial infection of the eye that can cause complications including blindness. This communicable disease still occurs in a number of outback Aboriginal communities.
The prevalence of vision problems in Indigenous people is a result of cataracts, diabetic eye disease and a disease non-Indigenous children don't get – trachoma.
Trachoma in non-indigenous Australians has been eradicated earlier this century, however, is still prevalent among Aboriginal communities. Poor living condition, lack of access to water supply and sanitation, living in a crowded and unhealthy environment are the main causes of trachoma in Indigenous Australians.
Trachoma is a preventable eye infection that can lead to blindness. We have signed an agreement with 4 states and territories where this condition occurs. The agreement supports activities to find, screen, treat, manage and prevent trachoma among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Coronary heart disease, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory diseases and lung and related cancers are the main causes of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Kidney disease is a leading cause of death and disability for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Trachoma is a disease of the eye caused by infection with the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. It is a public health problem in 42 countries, and is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of about 1.9 million people. Blindness from trachoma is irreversible.
Trachoma causes more vision loss and blindness than any other infection in the world. This disease is caused by Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria. Other variants or strains of these bacteria can cause a sexually transmitted infection (chlamydia) and disease in lymph nodes.
In the early stages of trachoma, treatment with antibiotics alone may be enough to eliminate the infection. Your doctor may prescribe tetracycline eye ointment or oral azithromycin (Zithromax). Azithromycin appears to be more effective than tetracycline, but it's more expensive.
Factors that increase your risk of contracting trachoma include: Crowded living conditions. People living in close contact are at greater risk of spreading infection. Poor sanitation.
Observational studies have found an association between trachoma and indicators of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Clean faces, use of soap, reduced distance to water, and access to a latrine have all been found to be associated with reduced prevalence of trachoma and ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection.
Why is trachoma common in Australia's remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities? Trachoma is common in places where there is poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions and practices (The University of Melbourne, Indigenous Eye Health).
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, avoidance of eye contact is customarily a gesture of respect. In Western society averting gaze can be viewed as being dishonest, rude Page 2 or showing lack of interest.
Australia is the only high‑income country where trachoma is still endemic. It occurs primarily in remote and very remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory (NT), South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA).
Aboriginal people can be dark-skinned and broad-nosed, or blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Let's get rid of some myths!
Trachoma is one of oldest infectious diseases known to humans. It is caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis, which is transmitted through contact with eye secretions of infected people (shared use of towels and handkerchiefs, contact with fingers, etc.), as well by flies that help spread it.
This advanced form of trachoma is called trichiasis, and the pain can be so intense that many people resort to pulling out their eyelashes to reduce the agony of blinking. Over time, if it's not treated, trichiasis can lead to blindness.
Poverty, crowded living conditions, and poor sanitation help spread the disease. Most of the people infected are women and children. Trachoma is very contagious.
The term conjunctivitis is applied to any form of inflammatory, change affecting the conjunctiva, while trachoma is a variety of conjunctivitis, the full name of which is conjunctivitis trachoma- tosa.
Trachoma is transmitted by flies (see the article in this Issue). If there is more water in a dry environment, including water spilt or thrown on the ground, this will provide alternative sources of moisture to flies which would otherwise seek it on children'sfaces.
This association of flies with the faces of infected children has not gone unnoticed, and they have been considered as vectors of trachoma for at least 400 years. Flies act as mechanical vectors of disease by picking up pathogens from infectious material and transferring them to an uninfected host.
Based on age-standardised rates, circulatory diseases accounted for the largest gap in mortality rates between Indigenous and non‑Indigenous Australians (gap of 78 deaths per 100,000 population).
The 3 leading causes of death for Indigenous Australians were coronary heart disease, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), whereas for non-Indigenous Australians they were coronary heart disease, dementia including Alzheimer's disease, and cerebrovascular disease (Figure 4).
Effect on First Nations peoples
The spread of smallpox was followed by influenza, measles, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. First Nations peoples had no resistance to these diseases, all of which brought widespread death.