Trachoma affects about one‐sixth of the world's population. It is prevalent among the Australian Aboriginals and is becoming more frequent among the white population, particularly school children.
The incidence. clinical characteristics, pathology and treatment of trachoma are reviewed.
Trachoma was given its name by the first centry Greek physician Dioscorides in his famous De Materia Medica. The name comes from the Greek word ‘trachys' meaning rough and this describes the most obvious feature of the disease, viz., a roughening of the conjunctiva.