eye disorders
Trachoma
Diagnosis of Trachoma
Clinical findings (eg, tarsal lymphoid follicles, linear conjunctival scars, corneal pannus) Diagnosis of trachoma is usually clinical because testing is rarely available in endemic areas. Lymphoid follicles on the tarsal plate or along the corneal limbus, linear conjunctival scarring, and corneal pannus are considered diagnostic in the appropriate clinical setting. can be isolated in culture or identified by nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) and immunofluorescence techniques, and testing should be done when it is readily available. In resource limited-settings, testing may be limited to cases of diagnostic uncertainty. In the early stage, minute basophilic cytoplasmic inclusion bodies within conjunctival epithelial cells in Giemsa-stained conjunctival scrapings differentiate trachoma from nonchlamydial conjunctivitis. Inclusion bodies are also found in Adult Inclusion Conjunctivitis , but the setting and developing clinical picture distinguish it from trachoma. Palpebral vernal conjunctivitis appears similar to trachoma in its follicular hypertrophic stage, but symptoms are different, milky flat-topped papillae are present, and eosinophils (not basophilic inclusion bodies) are found in the scrapings. 