Eye Disease Rife In Nt Communities

The Age

Thursday December 4, 2008

Sarah Smiles, Canberra

TRACHOMA, a virulent eye-disease long eliminated in most parts of Australia, is "hyperendemic" in five Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.

The disease, which starts with similar symptoms to "pink eye" but can lead to blindness, is found throughout the third world and is associated with poor hygiene.

A screening of 1316 people in the Katherine region last year, including 415 children under the age of 10, found nearly 20 per cent of those children had active infections. Thirty two per cent of people over 20 had scarring and six people had the final symptoms of the disease, trichiasis, or ingrown eyelashes.

The study, published recently in the Australian Medical Journal, said the level of unoperated trichiasis was "more than four times the acceptable threshold set by the World Health Organisation".

"Urgent and sustained public health and clinical interventions are required," said the report, despite a program to eradicate trachoma 30years ago.

A book about the 1970s National Trachoma and Eye Health Program, led by the late Fred Hollows, will be launched in Canberra today. It details personal accounts of the program, under which 27,000 people were treated for trachoma.

Jilpia Jones, a nurse who worked in the program, said a similar scheme was needed to curb the disease, which is spread through contact with the eye or nose secretions of an infected person.

© 2008 The Age

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