Single-dose oral azithromycin effective against trichiasis

BETHESDA, Md. — A single oral dose of azithromycin after surgery helped reduce the recurrence of a common eyelid disease by 33%, according to the National Eye Institute.

Researchers at the NEI said the single antibiotic dose was as effective as the typical 6-week regimen of tetracycline ointment applied directly to the eye, according to an NEI press release.

The World Health Organization previously endorsed a multifaceted strategy to control trachoma, including surgery for trichiasis and the tetracycline application post-surgery.

The study, dubbed STAR for “Surgery for trichiasis, antiobiotics to prevent recurrence,” found ocular infections with bacterium that causes trachoma was present in 19% of the eyes of Ethopian patients affected with trichiasis. More than 77% of the patients were women, the release said. Women are also four times more likely to develop trichiasis than men, usually as a result of caring for trachoma-infected children.

“This clinical trial was relatively inexpensive to conduct and produced results that may well save the vision of millions of people,” Paul A. Sieving, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health, said in the release.

Surgical repair of the eyelid to prevent blindness often resulted in an up-to-50% recurrence rate of trichiasis, said Sheila K. West, PhD, at Wilmer Eye Institute. She and her colleagues found administering a single dose of azithromycin after eyelid surgery enabled the physicians to “reduce the recurrence of trichiasis by 33%. This finding has major implications for improving the outcome following surgery.”

She said in the release that some of the recurrence can be attributed to poor surgical technique.

“Future trials will need to standardize the procedure when testing surgical therapies,” she said in the release.