Mass dosing of village populations in three African countries shows that antibiotics can greatly reduce the incidence of trachoma, a blinding eye disease.

Schachter, J., S.K. West, et al. 1999. Azithromycin in control of trachoma. Lancet 354(Aug. 21):630.

Dawson, C.R., et al. 1982. Trachoma therapy with topical tetracycline and oral erythromycin: A comparative trial. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 60:347.

Seppa, N. 1999. Fly control yields fewer trachoma cases. Science News 155(May 29):351.

Sheila K. West
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Wilmer Eye Institute—Room 129
600 North Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21205

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 13, September 25, 1999, p. 203. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.