INTRODUCTION
reduced ocular Chlamydia infections, infections
TRACHOMA, INFECTIONS
In 2020, over half of the 5 million children under the age of 5 who died lived in sub-Saharan Africa.An additional benefit to biannual azithromycin (every 6 months) in these high-risk communities could be an interruption of transmission of pathogens in the community, resulting in a reduction in infections among others who did not receive treatment. For example, biannual azithromycin for trachoma control programs in Ethiopia reduced ocular Chlamydia infections in the year following treatment in childrenThe purpose of this analysis was to determine whether there were indirect effects of the biannual azithromycin intervention on the carriage of respiratory pathogens among older children in the azithromycin treatment communities in the MORDOR I trial. These children themselves did not receive azithromycin nor placebo. However, if the under-5-year-olds were the dominant source of transmission for a particular pathogen, and if the effects of azithromycin were lasting, we would expect that carriage could be reduced in the older children.