Trial reportPLoS neglected tropical diseases2013
A randomized trial of two coverage targets for mass treatment with azithromycin for trachoma.
Trial report in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Safety of azithromycin in pediatrics: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2020Pooled it
- Community-level Association between Clinical Trachoma and Ocular Chlamydia Infection after MASS Azithromycin Distribution in a Mesoendemic Region of Niger.Ophthalmic epidemiology · 2019Trial
- Treating village newcomers and travelers for trachoma: Results from ASANTE cluster randomized trial.PloS one · 2017Trial
- Risk of Infection with Chlamydia trachomatis from Migrants to Communities Undergoing Mass Drug Administration for Trachoma Control.Ophthalmic epidemiology · 2015Trial
- Comparison of Methods for Assessing Chlamydia trachomatis Transmission Intensity: A Systematic Review.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2026Article
- Practical inference for a complier average causal effect in cluster randomised trials with a binary outcome.Clinical trials (London, England) · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Comparison of metrics for assessing face washing behaviour for trachoma control.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- The effect of Mass Drug Administration for trachoma on antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis pgp3 in children.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Effectiveness and safety of azithromycin 1.5% eye drops for mass treatment of active trachoma in a highly endemic district in Cameroon.BMJ open ophthalmology · 2020Article
- Toward the Elimination of Disease: the 2019 Weisenfeld Award Lecture.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2019Article
- Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection: elimination with mass drug administration.Expert review of anti-infective therapy · 2019Review
- Prevalence of trachoma in four marakez of Elmenia and Bani Suef Governorates, Egypt.Ophthalmic epidemiology · 2018Article
- One round of azithromycin MDA adequate to interrupt transmission in districts with prevalence of trachomatous inflammation-follicular of 5.0-9.9%: Evidence from Malawi.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2018Article
- Models of Trachoma Transmission and Their Policy Implications: From Control to Elimination.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2018Review
- Effectiveness of expanding annual mass azithromycin distribution treatment coverage for trachoma in Niger: a cluster randomised trial.The British journal of ophthalmology · 2018Article
- Population-based coverage survey results following the mass drug administration of azithromycin for the treatment of trachoma in Amhara, Ethiopia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2018Article
- Killing of diverse eye pathogens (Acanthamoeba spp., Fusarium solani, and Chlamydia trachomatis) with alcohols.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2017Article
- The Relationship between Active Trachoma and Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis Infection before and after Mass Antibiotic Treatment.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe World Health Organization recommends at least 3 annual antibiotic mass drug administrations (MDA) where the prevalence of trachoma is > 10% in children ages 1-9 years, with coverage at least at 80%. However, the additional value of higher coverage targeted at children with multiple rounds is unknown. TRIAL
design2 × 2 factorial community randomized, double blind, trial. TRIAL
methods32 communities with prevalence of trachoma ≥ 20% were randomized to: annual MDA aiming for coverage of children between 80%-90% (usual target) versus aiming for coverag e> 90% (enhanced target); and to: MDA for three years versus a rule of cessation of MDA early if the estimated prevalence of ocular C. trachomatis infection was less than 5%. The primary outcome was the community prevalence of infection with C. trachomatis at 36 months.
resultsOver the trial's course, no community met the MDA cessation rule, so all communities had the full 3 rounds of MDA. At 36 months, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of infection, 4.0 versus 5.4 (mean adjusted difference = 1.4%, 95% CI = -1.0% to 3.8%), nor in the prevalence of trachoma, 6.1 versus 9.0 (mean adjusted difference = 2.6%, 95% CI = -0.3% to 5.3%) comparing the usual target to the enhanced target group. There was no difference if analyzed using coverage as a continuous variable.
conclusionIn communities that had pre-treatment prevalence of follicular trachoma of 20% or greater, there is no evidence that MDA can be stopped before 3 annual rounds, even with high coverage. Increasing coverage in children above 90% does not appear to confer additional benefit.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.