The household pattern of trachoma in Taiwan

A trachoma prevalence survey was conducted in 1960-61 in Taiwan prior to the introduction of a large-scale treatment campaign. During the survey information was collected by household and by individual. In the present report an attempt is made to depict the disease pattern in the household.The study indicates that the risk of infection is not related to household size but to the over-all endemicity in the community. The higher the endemicity the less is the chance of a household escaping infection. The study also demonstrates the interaction between the socio-economic development of the household and trachoma infection among its members.The remarkable feature, however, is the unexpectedly high proportion of households that have only one active trachoma case; the introduction of a case into the household does not necessarily mean an increase in the risk of infection to the other members.It would seem from the study that the average number of trachoma cases per household is the most efficient manner of expressing the household experience with trachoma.