Environment and health with respect to a poverty-related disease: the epidemiology of trachoma in Spain, 1925-1941

• Main Authors: Josep Bernabeu-Mestre, María Eugenia Galiana-Sánchez, Angela Cremades Monerris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz 2013-12-01
• Series: História, Ciências, Saúde: Manguinhos
• Subjects: tracoma; cegueira; saúde ambiental; Espanha (1925-1941); saúde pública
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-59702013000401605&lng=en&tlng=en

Trachoma currently represents one of the three main causes of ‘avoidable' blindness and reaches intolerable dimensions in many developing countries. It was endemic in many regions of eastern Spain until well into the twentieth century. The aim of this paper is to analyze the epidemiological development of this disease in contemporary Spain; to examine its determining factors, particularly environmental and sanitary/health factors, and, finally, to study the health care, environmental and socio-economic measures that led to its control and eradication. We believe that the historical approach not only highlights the role of environmental factors in the development of trachoma, but may also aid in understanding the current epidemiology of trachoma.