264 CHAPTER SEVEN FIGURE 7.2. PREVALENCE OF TRACHOMA BY AGE AND SEX (NBS 1981) ,,_q IO , , ,I Ill 6 • 8 !.;l........ , ,, Ill •· 1 ffi ......,.. 7 • • , .....- ...........,..... II ! ,,,,, ,, ;,,,.• 7 •• ,,,!' 0.. ,..!. 8 '\., l.l "1 I .... 0:: e U; J UJ u <{ ia: ·'----------- ,,, .2 ,.1 '·' ---i ,· 5 q ••• 3 -"Ill£ ••••. 't:"lllt 0 :I: 2 t 0:: I- 0 o-q s-1 to•tij ts-ta 20-21 10-11 AGE qo-qa so-11 ao• more likely to be acute infections with little or mild scarring. Adult cases are less likely to be acute infections, except perhaps for women in the child-bearing and child-rearing ages, and adult trachoma may show significant conjunctival or corneal scarring. Hidden in these relationships there may be evidence about the incidence of trachoma, such as whether incidence is actually increasing or decreasing over time. An explanation of these issues is beyond the scope of the present discussion. The Nepalese population may be divided into subgroups on the basis of caste, religion, or ethnic group. The relationships between trachoma prevalence and caste, religion, and ethnic groups are shown in Tables 7-15, 7-16, and 7-17. Caste, as measured in the Nepal Blindness Survey, is a self- reported item for the head of the household. Most households reported that they were of the Vaishya caste, and, hence, a large share of the trachoma should be found there. As shown in Table 7- 15, three-fifths (60%) of the trachoma is in the Vaishya caste households. The prevalence for this caste is 7.9 per 100, higher than the overall prevalence of 6.5 per 100, and higher than the prevalence for the other castes. Kshatris also have a higher preva-
