RESEARCH ARTICLE Burden of trachoma in five counties of Eastern Equatoria state, South Sudan: Results from population-based surveys Angelia M. Sanders1*, Aisha E. P. Stewart1, Samuel Makoy2, Joy J. Chebet3, Peter Magok3, Aja Kuol2, Carla Blauvelt3, Richard Lako2, John Rumunu2, E. Kelly Callahan1, Scott D. Nash1 1 Trachoma Control Program, The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, 2 South Sudan Ministry of Health, Government of the Republic of South Sudan, Juba, Republic of South Sudan, 3 The Carter a1111111111 Center-South Sudan, The Carter Center, Juba, Republic of South Sudan a1111111111 a1111111111 *
[email protected] a1111111111 a1111111111 Abstract Background OPEN ACCESS In order to decrease the prevalence of trachoma within the country, the Republic of South Citation: Sanders AM, Stewart AEP, Makoy S, Sudan has implemented components of the SAFE strategy in various counties since 2001. Chebet JJ, Magok P, Kuol A, et al. (2017) Burden of trachoma in five counties of Eastern Equatoria Five counties in Eastern Equatoria state were surveyed in order to monitor progress of pro- state, South Sudan: Results from population-based grammatic interventions and determine if additional rounds of Mass Drug Administration surveys. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 11(6): e0005658. with azithromycin were needed. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005658 Editor: Mathieu Picardeau, Institut Pasteur, Methodology/ Principal findings FRANCE Five counties (Budi, Lafon, Kapoeta East, Kapoeta South and Kapoeta North) were surveyed Received: December 19, 2016 from April to October 2015. A cross-sectional, multi-stage, cluster-random sampling was Accepted: May 23, 2017 used. All present, consenting residents of selected households were examined for all clinical Published: June 14, 2017 signs of trachoma using the World Health Organization (WHO) simplified grading system.