# Azithromycin Reduction to Reach Elimination of Trachoma

> **NIH NIH UG1** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $813,579

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Annual mass azithromycin distribution dramatically reduces the prevalence of the ocular strains of Chlamydia
trachomatis that lead to blinding trachoma. Current World Health Organization guidelines indicate that annual
mass azithromycin distribution should be continued until district-level prevalence of the clinical sign of
trachoma, trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF), drops below 5%. However, TF does not correlate well
with infection after multiple rounds of azithromycin treatment. Specifically, any decrease in TF lags well behind
the decrease in infection. Thus the TF threshold may lead to overuse of antibiotics and depletion of scarce
resources. Here, we propose a community randomized controlled trial and diagnostic test study to evaluate
whether 1) azithromycin distribution can be discontinued in communities with TF prevalence up to 20%, and 2)
alternative indicators of trachoma transmission can better measure true infection. We anticipate that results will
provide evidence to support discontinuation of azithromycin treatment earlier, and evidence of that true local
elimination of infection can be achieved, altering the goal of the trachoma program from control to eradication.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9852152
- **Project number:** 1UG1EY030833-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** THOMAS M LIETMAN
- **Activity code:** UG1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $813,579
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9852152

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9852152, Azithromycin Reduction to Reach Elimination of Trachoma (1UG1EY030833-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9852152. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*