Talk:Trachoma
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[edit] Comments
I have now included a citation regarding the work of Dr Vincent Tabone Maltesedog 13:19, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
- I've updated the article to more accurately reflect Tabone's role. -AED 22:23, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Sources needed for these numbers, they don't seem right
A quick scan of information available online shows a much smaller population to be affected by trachoma. The International Trachoma Initiative lists the number to be at 84 million with the active disease, and over 8 million blind. Unite for Sight puts the number in the same area, with 18%-24% of blindness caused by trachoma, with 7-9 million. Cataracts are listed as the leading cause of blindness. The WHO lists the number to cause 3.6% of visual impairment globally, with cataracts once again listed as the leading cause.
So while it's difficult to actually pin down the exact numbers here, it seems safe to say that 400 million afflicted seems far too large, and that I can find no information suggesting that trachoma is the leading cause of blindness globally.
The only reason I didn't go ahead an make an edit is that the ITI article was unsourced, and medical issues are far from my expertise. I just happened to notice a discrepancy between this page and the blindness one.
Contextclouds 06:07, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
It isn't right, Contextclouds. From my knowledge the WHO estimate is much more likely to be accurate. I'm a retinal neuroscientist, though, not an opthamologist, so if one comes around and cares to settle the discussion (or replace the number), they would probably know better than me. Until then, I'm removing that number and the statement which claims it is the #1 cause of blindness.
C4Diesel 16:13, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
Per http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/, trachoma is definitely not the overall leading cause of blindness. Per http://www.who.int/features/2006/trachoma/en/index.html, "Community development and intensified action by WHO’s Global Alliance for the Elimination of Blinding Trachoma by 2020, has reduced the number of people with blinding trachoma. The estimated number of people affected by trachoma has fallen from 360 million people in 1985 to approximately 80 million people today." -AED 06:12, 1 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] etymology
i think it just means 'roughness' or 'rough growth' -- not 'rough eye'
From the OED:
- trachoma:
[mod.L., a. Gr. [my ignorant transliteration: traxoma] roughness (Dioscorides), f. [my ignorant transliteration: traxos] rough.]
- oma:
terminal element repr. Gr. -xla, in which x repr. x (or o) in the parent word (usu. a vb.) and -la is a Gr. suffix forming neut. ns., exemplified in Eng. words adopted from the Gr. such as carcinoma, coloboma, derma, diploma, eczema, glaucoma, phyma, plasma, sarcoma, trachoma, and in words on Gr. analogy such as lipoma. In Bot. -oma has usu. been anglicized to -ome. In Med. the examples of sarcoma (17th c. in English) and carcinoma (18th c.) have been taken as types on which to base new names of neoplasms and other localized swellings, -oma (†-ome) being used as a suffix denoting ‘tumour, growth’ (cf. also Gr. Ãcjxla swelling): e.g. fibroma (†fibrome), cementoma, oligodendroglioma, tuberculoma (†tuberculome). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.53.49.104 (talk • contribs) 23:48, May 1, 2007 (UTC)
