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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 76(1), 2007, pp. 129-131
Copyright © 2007 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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CHLAMYDIA ON CHILDREN AND FLIES AFTER MASS ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT FOR TRACHOMA

SCOTT LEE, WONDU ALEMAYEHU, MULUKEN MELESE, TAKELE LAKEW, DAVID LEE, ELIZABETH YI, VICKY CEVALLOS, CATHY DONNELLAN, ZHAOXIA ZHOU, JAYA D. CHIDAMBARAM, BRUCE D. GAYNOR, JOHN P. WHITCHER, AND THOMAS M. LIETMAN*
F.I. Proctor Foundation, San Francisco, CA; Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, California; Orbis International, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Institute for Global Health, University of California, San Francisco, California; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, California

There are various approaches to control trachoma. These include the elimination of the ocular strains of Chlamydia trachomatis that cause the disease and to decrease the spread of infection by other measures such as fly control. Here, we examined how these two are related (i.e., how treating children with antibiotics affects carriage of Chlamydia by flies). Flies were collected in villages that had received mass oral azithromycin distribution and were compared with flies in untreated villages. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to detect chlamydial DNA on the flies. Conjunctival swabs were also taken to assay for chlamydial prevalence in the children. Chlamydia was found on 23% of the flies in the untreated villages but only 0.3% in treated villages. Prevalence of trachoma in children proved to be an excellent predictor of the prevalence on flies (correlation coefficient, 0.89). Thus, treating children with antibiotics may drastically reduce the role of flies as a vector.

Received December 22, 2005. Accepted for publication August 27, 2006.

Financial support: This study was supported by the Bernard Osher Foundation, That Man May See, the International Trachoma Initiative, the Bodri Foundation, the South Asia Research Fund, the Harper Inglis Trust, Research to Prevent Blindness, and the National Institutes of Health (Grant U10-EY016214).

* Address correspondence to Thomas M. Lietman, Department of Ophthalmology, F.I. Proctor Foundation, 95 Kirkham Street, Room 307, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0944. E-mail: Tom.Lietman{at}ucsf.com

Authors’ addresses: Scott Lee, David Lee, Elizabeth Yi, Jaya D. Chidambaram, Bruce D. Gaynor, John P. Whitcher, and Thomas M. Lietman, Proctor Foundation, UCSF, 513 Parnassus, Medical Sciences Room S309, San Francisco, CA 94143-0412. Wondu Alemayehu, Muluken Melese, and Takele Lakew, P.O. Box 23508, Code 1000, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Vicky Cevallos, Cathy Donnellan, and Zhaoxia Zhou, Proctor Foundation, UCSF, 95 Kirkham Street, San Francisco, CA 94143-0644.






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