Tuberculin skin test (TST) interpretation can be confounded by Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination and infection with nontuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM). However, a wealth of epidemiologic information has allowed the formulation of recommendations for reasonably informed interpretation of the TST in most clinical situations. In the Middle East, the TST remains a useful test. BCG vaccinat...

Rabbits stimulated with Mycobacterium bovis (strain BCG) one month before challenge with Treponema pallidum (Nichols) did not show any modification in their development of syphilitic lesions. A second infection with BCG given at the same time and at the same intradermal site as the T. pallidum challenge also failed to protect the rabbits against syphilis. Thus the non-specific activation of cel...

Current tuberculosis (TB) treatments include chemotherapy and preventative vaccination with Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). In humans, however, BCG vaccination fails to fully protect against pulmonary TB. Few studies have considered the impact of the human lung mucosa (alveolar lining fluid (ALF)), which modifies the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) cell wall, revealing alt...

OBJECTIVES To address whether the effect of BCG vaccination against tuberculosis (TB) infection lasts to adulthood. METHODS A cross-sectional study on the prevalence of latent TB infection (LTBI) among HIV-negative men, using QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-tube (QFT-IT), was conducted at a prison in northern Taiwan with >3000 inmates. A QFT-IT ≥0.35 IU/ml was defined as LTBI. A QFT-IT ≥0.7 IU/ml was ...

Thanks to Turner et al for commenting on our article. Turner et al challenge our finding that the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG) can prevent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (MTI), and propose an alternative explanation: that the absence of a positive interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) could be due to antigenic sin and does not necessarily demonstrate absence of infection. A posi...

BACKGROUND The accurate diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is an important component of any tuberculosis control programme and depends largely on tuberculin skin testing. The appropriate interpretation of skin test results requires knowledge of the possible confounding factors such as previous BCG vaccination. Uncertainty about the effect of BCG vaccination on tuberculin skin tes...

Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 13, No. 5, May 2007 801 We believe that patients with severe combined immunodefi ciency and any form of mild local changes at the BCG injection site should be given single or double anti-TB therapy, which should be continued until complete immunologic reconstitution occurs after bone marrow transplant. Severe local BCG infection with regiona...

We reported previously that IL-15 plays a critical role in protecting effector CD8(+) T cells from apoptosis during the contraction phase following acute infection with Listeria monocytogenes by inducing antiapoptotic molecules. In the present study, we examined the effects of in vivo administration of rIL-15 on contraction of CD8(+) T cells after chronic infection with Mycobacterium bovis BCG ...

This document outlines the consensus agreement from the Union's BCG Working Group regarding BCG vaccination in HIV-infected infants, in response to recently revised World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, which make HIV infection in infants a full contraindication to bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination. BCG is one of the most widely given vaccines globally and is safe in immunocompete...

BACKGROUND The identification of antigens able to differentiate tuberculosis (TB) disease from TB infection would be valuable. Cellular and humoral immune responses to Erp (Exported repetitive protein)--a recently identified M. tuberculosis protein--have not yet been investigated in humans and may contribute to this aim. METHODS We analyzed the cellular and humoral immune responses to Erp, ES...