CHILDHOOD BLINDNESS 335 TABLE 8-15. PREVALENCE, ESTIMATED NUMBER OF CASES, AND DISTRIBUTION BY ZONE, ACTIVE XEROPHTHALMIA (AND BITOT'S SPOTS), CHILDREN UNDER AGE 6, DECEMBER-APRIL (NBS 1981) Estimated Number of Children Affected Prevalence per 100 Children Percentage of Nepal's Total Sample N Zone Mechi Koshi Sagarmatha Janakpur Bagmati Narayani Gandaki Lumbini Dhaulagiri Rapti Karnali Bheri Seti Mahakali Subtotal Missing data 473 669 691 686 666 837 561 693 91 352 73 622 340 450 7,204 376 680 (680) 1,227 (784) 3,957 (3,317) 1,752 (1,752) 722 (372) 6,644 (4,544) 1,261 (624) 0.4 (0.4) 0.5 (0.3) 1.7 (1.4) 0.7 (0.7) 0.3 (0.2) 2.2 (1.5) 0.7 (0.3) 3.3 (4.4) 5.9 (5.0) 19.0 (21.4) 8.4 (11.3) 3.5 (2.4) 31.8 (29.3) 6.0 (4.0) 658 (658) 0.3 (0.3) 3.1 (4.2) - (-) - (-) - (-) 1.1 (0.8) 1,377 (1,033) 6.6 (6.6) - (-) 259 (-) 344 (344) 1,977 (1,426) 20,858 (15,534} 0 (0) - (-) 0.1 (-) 0.3 (0.3) 1.3 (0.8) 0.8 (0.6) NA(NA) - (-) l.2 (-) 1.7 (2.2) 9.5 (9.2) 100.0 (100.0) NA(NA) Total 7,580 20,858 (15,534) 0.8 (0.6) 100.0 (100.0) Source: FRB.002 AN.80, 90 M Note: Figures in parentheses refer to the estimated number of cases, prevalence, and distribution of cases of active xerophthalmia that are Bitot's spots (XlB). munities may be identified that may require additional levels of preventive or curative intervention. It is possible that certain com- munities may share characteristics such as diet or housing patterns, which are associated with xerophthalmia, yielding etiologic clues. In the section that follows, four characteristics of community groups will be examined with respect to xerophthalmia: religion, caste, mother tongue, and ethnic group. There is, of course, a great deal of overlap between these traits. However, each makes a unique contribution towards understanding the pattern of xerophthalmia in Nepal. (1) Religion: As shown• in Table 8-1 7, nearly all cases of xerophthalmia (93.3%) and Bitot's spots (95.5%) are Hindu, consistent with the fact that the vast majority of Nepalese are of the Hindu religion. Only two cases of Bitot's spots and two cases of conjunctival xerosis were found in persons of "other" religious groups (Christian or Bon-pa). With so few non-Hindu cases, little can be
