Massive trial tests if clean water and hygiene can help stop a blinding disease

This large study tested whether adding a comprehensive water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) program to antibiotic treatment is better at controlling trachoma, a bacterial eye infection that can cause blindness, than antibiotics alone. It involved over 47,000 people across 40 communities in rural Ethiopia that had already received years of antibiotic treatment. Researchers compared communities that received the WASH package (like latrines and clean water) to those that did not, and also compared different antibiotic distribution strategies, to find the most effective and sustainable way to reduce the disease.