Trial reportTropical medicine & international health : TM & IH2026
A Randomised Trial of Three Face-Washing Methods for the Removal of Chlamydia trachomatis From the Faces of Children With Severe Active Trachoma.
Trial report in Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- A Randomised Trial of Three Face-Washing Methods for the Removal of Chlamydia trachomatis From the Faces of Children With Severe Active Trachoma.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2026Trial
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Authors and funding
16 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesA three-arm, open, parallel-group randomised trial compared three face-washing methods for cleaning Chlamydia trachomatis from the faces of children with severe active trachoma. The impact of face-washing on Chlamydia trachomatis on the hands of children and their caregivers and Chlamydia trachomatis duration on faces and hands were investigated as secondary objectives.
methodsChildren aged 1-7 years in Oromia, Ethiopia, were screened for active trachoma. We aimed to recruit 470 children with severe conjunctival inflammation; 141 were expected to have concurrent conjunctival infection and facial Chlamydia trachomatis , detected by qPCR. Those with severe inflammation were randomly assigned to water alone, water with soap or damp, microfibre towel protocols. Swabs (children's faces/hands, caregivers' hands) were collected pre-wash, post-wash, and at 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h. Conjunctival swabs were tested for ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection; only infected children with facial Chlamydia trachomatis were included in primary analysis, comparing the proportion of faces without Chlamydia trachomatis after each washing method.
resultsOf 470 children screened with severe inflammation, 25 (5%) had conjunctival infection and facial Chlamydia trachomatis . All three protocols (n = 12 water only, n = 8 water and soap, n = 5 damp towel) reduced discharge, but none removed Chlamydia trachomatis from faces immediately post-wash. No major facial Chlamydia trachomatis load reduction was observed. Face-washing removed Chlamydia trachomatis from some children's and caregivers' hands, but loads were not significantly reduced where Chlamydia trachomatis persisted. Though Chlamydia trachomatis was transiently absent from one face at 1 h and four at 2 h post-wash, all baseline Chlamydia trachomatis -positive children retained it at 8 h.
conclusionsNo evidence of differential or overall effectiveness of the three washing methods at removing facial Chlamydia trachomatis from children with trachoma was found. This finding is limited by a smaller-than-anticipated sample size, potentially hindering detection of subtle differences or overall effects.
trial registrationISRCTN registry: ISRCTN12814010 (April 2023).
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