THE GERM OF TRACHOMA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19847, 23 May 1927, Page 6

THE GERM OF TRACHOMA

If Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, a Japanese medical man, is on sure ground in claiming that he has isolated the germ of trachoma, it is little wonder that, as related in a recent cable, the thousand eye specialists he addressed at the American Medical Association meeting at last week-end, rose in their places and cheered his announcement. For this disease is widespread and is the eau.se, not only of much human suffering, but, in some countries, of a low economic scale as well. Described briefly, trachoma is primarily a disease of the eyelid which becomes reddened, thickened, and studded over with small granulations which look like boiled sago grains. The friction of these on the eyeball tends finally to impair the sight and, unless proper treatment be at hand, very frequently leads to complications which end in partial or total blindness. The disease, which is a highly contagious one, is considered to be due to prolonged overcrowding under bad sanitary conditions. It is said to be very common among the poorest classes in Europe and Great Britain. A recent traveller in China has said that almost half the population suffer from it in some form or another. It is common in the West Pacific and East India islands, and in India, in fact, wherever overcrowding and dirt are to be found, trachoma may be looked for. The traveller above referred to states that it is almost impossible to estimate the loss in lessened production due to trachoma incapacity in China. One has only to imagine a population, a large proportion of which is blind or semi-blind, to grasp the significance of such a statement. Overcrowding and bad sanitation are evils which cannot be eliminated in a day or a year, especially in semi-civilised countries. The isolation of the germ of trachoma, if this indeed has been accomplished, is thus a matter of world importance from both the humanitarian and the economic points of view.