Conjunctivitis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Conjunctivitis, including details on pink eye, symptoms, causes, treatment, medication.

Efficacy and safety of short duration azithromycin eye drops versus azithromycin single oral dose for the treatment of trachoma in children: a randomised, controlled, double-masked clinical trial.

Cochereau I, Goldschmidt P, Goepogui A, Afghani T, Delval L, Pouliquen P, Bourcier T, Robert PY

Service d'Ophtalmologie, CHU d'Angers, 4, rue Larrey, 49033 Angers, France. iscochereau@chu-angers.fr

AIMS: Efficacy and safety of a short-duration treatment of azithromycin 1.5% eye drops versus oral azithromycin to treat active trachoma. METHODS: Randomised, controlled, double-masked, double-dummy, non-inferiority explanatory study including 670 children from Guinea Conakry and Pakistan if: 1-10 years old; active trachoma (TF+TI0 or TF+TI+ on simplified World Health Organisation (WHO) scale). Three groups received either: azithromycin 1.5% eye drops twice daily for 2 days, for 3 days or azithromycin single 20 mg/kg oral dose. Patients' contacts were treated whenever possible. Clinical evaluation was performed using a binocular loupe. Primary efficacy variable was the cure (no active trachoma (TF0)) at day 60. Non-inferiority margin for difference between cure rates was 10%. RESULTS: Cure rate in per protocol set was as follows: 93.0%, 96.3% and 96.6% in 2-day group 3-day group, and oral treatment group, respectively. Azithromycin 1.5% groups were non-inferior to oral azithromycin. The intend to treat (ITT) analysis supported the results. Clinical re-emergence rate was low: 4.2%. Ocular tolerance was similar for all groups. No treatment related adverse events were reported. Logistic regression analyses found prognostic factors such as: country (p<0.001) and trachoma severity (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: In active trachoma, azithromycin eye drops twice daily for 2 or 3 days are as efficient as the WHO's reference treatment and represent an innovative alternative to oral azithromycin.

Published 20 April 2007 in Br J Ophthalmol, 91(5): 667-72.
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