Résumé

This article explains the existence of trachoma in Canada. The many and varied bibliographical references offered by the Canadian medical literature of the mid-18e century to mid-19e century reveal the remarkable contribution of Canadian ophthalmologists. It presents a clinical overview of the disease with its symptoms and signs to continue on the etiology and the various modes of treatment. The presence and prevention of trachoma in Canada was then reported both in Toronto and Montreal, both in Western Canada and the arrival of transatlantic ships in Halifax. It also describes the too late prevention campaigns of the Canadian Department of Health to counter the transmission of this disease.

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Abstract

The author retraces the history of trachoma in Canada. The numerous articles in Canadian medical journals from the middle of the 18th to the middle of the 19th century show the remarkable contribution of Canadian ophthalmologists. The clinical symptoms and signs followed by the etiology and the different modes of treatment are reviewed. The presence and prevention of trachoma in Canada, ranging from Montreal to Toronto, also in Halifax with the arrival of the transatlantic immigrants, as well as those reaching the western provinces of Canada are described. How the Canadian Department of Health belatedly introduced a prevention campaign only after a widespread dissemination of trachoma across the country is also examined.

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Keywords

medical history

trachoma

granular conjunctivitis

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Keywords

medical history

trachoma

granular ophthalmia

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Copyright © 2010 Canadian Ophthalmological Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.