Treatment of trachoma in the West Bank

A double-blind stratified treatment trial was carried out on 368 patients with moderate to severe trachoma in two West Bank villages to assess the efficacy of family based therapy using tetracycline eye ointment, oral doxycycline or oral sulphametopyrazine. Treatment with tetracycline eye ointment twice daily for five days each month for six months, or a weekly dose of oral doxycycline, 5 mg/kg body weight for three weeks, or a weekly dose of oral sulphametopyrazine, 35 mg/kg body weight for three weeks was given to the patients and the members of their respective families. Clinical cure rates of 73% for tetracycline eye ointment, 74% for doxycycline and 72% for sulphametopyrazine were achieved three months after treatment, improving to 79, 80 and 82% respectively at one year. There were no statistically significant differences between the three groups treated.