Prevalence of trachoma among southwestern American Indian tribe.

A high incidence of trachoma at the San Xavier Papago Indian reservation resulted in a plan to do a complete screening and extensive treatment of the population. As a result, the incidence of trachoma was lowered by half and there was an absence of any severe trachoma sequelae in the population under the ate of 50 years. In an effort to find the correlation between any sanitation factors and the incidence of trachoma, an environmental sanitation survey was conducted. A most unexpected finding was the discovery of a positive relationship between poor individual space and a lower incidence of trachoma.