Ref: Gupta J.  Trachoma, 2^nd edition (Multimedia CD Review).  Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Book Reviews, 2006; Vol. 5, No. 2 (July - December 2006) ; Published November 1, 2006, (Accessed: 

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Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Book Reviews

Volume 5, Number 2, July - December 2006

Multimedia Review Section

(Page 1)

A WEALTH OF USEFUL INFORMATION ...The CD very beautifully covers all aspects of medicine (e.g. Anatomy of eye pathology and microbiology of trachoma, preventive medicines in trachoma, management and corrective surgery for the ophthalmologists) dealing with trachoma providing valuable information to both undergraduate as well as postgraduate students studying Ophthalmology and Preventive Medicine. The CD would also be useful to teachers and any health worker dealing with trachoma and its management...

 Trachoma, 2^nd edition (TOPICS IN INTERNATIONAL HEALTH SERIES),  (Publication date 2005, © The Trustee of The Wellcome Trust, London 2005) Multimedia CD-ROM,

CABI Publishing, 10 East 40th Street, Suite 3203, New York, NY10016, USA, Tel: 44 (0) 1491 829255, E-mail: cabweb@cabi.org, [Also published by Wellcome Trust, Gibbs Building, 215 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE, UK. T +44 (0)20 7611 8888. F +44 (0)20 7611 8545], 1 CD-ROM with booklet 9 pp. ISBN: 0 85199 495 4. Price: £120/$195 (Institutional); £30/$55 (Student/Individual); £45/$80 (Developing Country)

 Official site of this Multimedia: Click here to visit

Figure 1: Trachoma, 2^nd edition, Multimedia CD

Known alternatively as Granular conjunctivitis or Egyptian ophthalmia, trachoma is one the earliest recorded eye diseases. It was identified as early as the 27th century B.C. It is an eye infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, which may result in chronic scarring and blindness if left untreated. Today, 146 million people, mainly children and their mothers, are estimated to have an active trachoma infection - and millions have already been blinded by it.

Trachoma occurs worldwide - primarily in rural settings in developing countries. It frequently affects children, although the consequences of scarring may not be evident until later in life. While trachoma is rare in the United States, certain populations marked by poverty, crowded living conditions, and/or poor hygiene are at higher risk for this illness. Person-to-person transmission by ocular and respiratory secretions. Secondary transmission can occur through insect vectors such as house flies.

Its main symptoms are conjunctivitis, discharge from the eye, swollen eyelids, turned-in eyelashes, swelling of lymph nodes just in front of the ears and cloudy cornea. Early treatment before the development of scarring and lid deformities has an excellent prognosis. The complications include scarring of the conjunctiva and cornea, lid deformities, turned-in eyelashes and visual loss. If the visual loss is severe, it may even result in blindness

But it can be prevented by improved sanitation. Not sharing toilet articles such as towels are important measures for limiting the spread/acquisition of trachoma.

A global initiative to eliminate trachoma as a blinding disease, entitled GET 2020 (Global Elimination of Trachoma), was launched under WHO's leadership in 1997. Through this initiative control activities are instituted through primary health care approaches that follow the evidence-based "SAFE" strategy.

Surgery
Antibiotics
Face Washing
Environmental changes

Many books are available on trachoma which give information about this disease. However CABI has recently come out with an excellent CD, which gives not just these nuggets of information but a host of other useful information.

Some illustrative figurse from this CD. All show various manifestations of Trachoma. The complete CD has 373 high resolution images like this, which show not only clinical manifestations, but causative factors, ways of transmission, methods of diagnosis, prevention, treatment and several other aspects of Trachoma [Click each picture to enlarge].

When I started seeing this CD, I imagined, it might be just another "run of the mill" type of CDs. But very soon, I discovered how wrong I was. It turned out to be an amazing CD, full on interesting facts, presented in a most interesting fashion.

An ideal encyclopedia of trachoma would be the best way to describe this CD prepared by WELLCOME Trust.

This sets an example of a systematic audiovisual teaching technique.

Consisting of over 325 slides it itself explains its extensiveness a magnificent compilation of topics relating to trachoma

Divided into 10 blocks of extensive tutorials namely -

• Aetiopathology
• Epidemiology
• Clinical Signs
• Community Assessment
• Surgery I &II
• Antibiotics
• Health Promotion
• Environmental Improvement
• Evaluation of the SAFE strategy of trachoma

These tutorials, starting from Overview to Summary of the whole tutorial in the end gives a crystal clear picture of the concepts dealing with the topic.

The CD very beautifully covers all aspects of medicine (e.g. Anatomy of eye pathology and microbiology of trachoma, preventive medicines in trachoma, management and corrective surgery for the ophthalmologists) dealing with trachoma providing valuable information to both undergraduate as well as postgraduate students studying Ophthalmology and Preventive Medicine. The CD would also be useful to teachers and any health worker dealing with trachoma and its management.

It is supplemented in the form of videos and clinical settings in the examination and management of the trachoma cases.

Each tutorial is furnished with 2-3 self-assessment tests. Information regarding any new term or the important ones can be refreshed with just clicking over the word. And a very informative Glossary is also a feather in this splendid effort.

It is its image-bank which makes this effort really outstanding consisting of 373 images with rare variety of them and giving the user an exact clinical picture and variety of informative histopathological slides.

Updated with recent developments in trachoma management strategy with reference to WHO publications it extensively magnifies the information any one can get on this topic.

System requirements

Installation:

For Ordering Information and enquiries contact:

TOPICS IN INTERNATIONAL HEALTH SERIES

The Topics in International Health series is designed for use as an educational resource in tropical and international health. It is aimed at medical and life sciences students, their teachers, healthcare professionals, academics, and researchers.
There are 36 Video Clips for basic as well as advanced learning.
The series covers some of the most common causes of illness and mortality worldwide and aims to provide accessible high quality information. All the content of this CD is reviewed by experts in the relevant field.
Each CD-ROM provides three complementary resources: Interactive Tutorials, Image Collection, and Glossary.
1. The Interactive Tutorials provide a framework for self-directed learning. They are designed for use alone or in small groups. Each tutorial has clear learning objectives, self-assessment tests, references to encourage further reading and a summary to reinforce key points.
2. The Image Collection is a searchable database of photographic images and accompanying information. It can be used as a detailed reference source or to provide examples for practical exercises and lectures.
3. The Glossary is an electronic index which explains the medical and scientific terms used in the Tutorials and Image Collection. Each CD-ROM has its own subject-specific Glossary.
Topics in International Health Trachoma, Wellcome Trust CD-ROM This CD-ROM provides a wealth of useful information on the biology, epidemology, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and control of trachoma in an instructive and imaginative way. It would be very useful for training institutes or advanced students with access to computer facilities. Many images can be adapted for overheads for lectures or practical sessions.
Available from: CAB International, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 8DE,UK.
Fax:+44 1491 826090 E-mail:publishing@cabi.org

-Jeevak Gupta

-Jeevak Gupta Jeevak Gupta, 22, is currently a final year undergraduate medical student, , at the Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. Scored 29th Rank in State Delhi-PMT, he made it to this Prestigious College. A sensitive and noble human being with analytic bent of mind. He has a intense belief in humanity and charity. With deep interest in Music, he is a good singer, he has knowledge of Indian classical music and loves composing ring tones. In his free time usually loves to solve Puzzles, play Chess and reading Non-fictions. He can be contacted at jeevakp103@yahoo.com.

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