BACKGROUND BCG vaccination is recommended at birth in low-income countries, but vaccination is often delayed. Often 20-dose vials of BCG are not opened unless at least ten children are present for vaccination ("restricted vial-opening policy"). BCG coverage is usually reported as 12-month coverage, not disclosing the delay in vaccination. Several studies show that BCG at birth lowers neonatal m...

Tuberculosis is an important disease in the world especially in developing and undeveloped regions and PPD test is the standard test for diagnosis of this infectious disease [1-3]. BCG vaccination has proven to be the most effective technique for controlling tuberculosis in the world especially in developing countries [1]. The BCG vaccination is the most extensively used immunization worldwide,...

A component of Mycobacterium bovis BCG referred to as BCG-a was isolated through the combined use of monoclonal antibody directed to BCG and affinity chromatography. Analysis of BCG-a by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed a single prominent band with a molecular weight of ca. 10,000. Structural characterization of BCG-a consisting of amino acid composition and am...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy ofthe BCG vaccine in the fIrst 60 days of life in inducing delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), and to evaluate the reliability of the Mantoux test in comparison with the BCG test for detecting DTH. A study was done in 885 healthy, well nourished infants 5 to 7 months old from rural areas of the Urumieh province, who received BCG immun...

BACKGROUND Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the intravesical treatment of choice for carcinoma in situ (CIS). OBJECTIVE Our aim was to assess if sequential mitomycin C (MMC) plus BCG after transurethral resection (TUR) is worthy of further study in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients with CIS. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In a noncomparative phase 2 study, 96 patients with pri...

BACKGROUND There is an urgent need for an improved tuberculosis vaccine. The lack of a validated correlate of protection slows progress in achieving this goal. A human mycobacterial challenge model, using bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) as a surrogate for a Mycobacterium tuberculosis challenge, would facilitate vaccine selection for field efficacy testing. Optimization of this model is required. ...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the safety and immunogenicity of boosting BCG with modified vaccinia Ankara expressing antigen 85A (MVA85A), shortly after BCG vaccination, and to compare this first with the immunogenicity of BCG vaccination alone and second with a previous clinical trial where MVA85A was administered more than 10 years after BCG vaccination. DESIGN There are two clinical trials rep...

We previously demonstrated that major membrane protein II (MMP-II) is one of the immunodominant antigens (Ags) of Mycobacterium leprae capable of activating T cells through Toll-like receptor 2. Based on the observation that Mycobacterium bovis BCG secreting a 30-kDa protein offered better protection against tuberculosis, we constructed a recombinant BCG strain (BCG-SM) that secretes MMP-II to ...

Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) induces potent Th1 responses with the help of interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-12 released from dendritic cells (DCs), and suppresses Th2- associated allergic reactions. However, there are still some controversies on therapeutic effects of BCG in asthmatics. This study investigated whether BCG administration to DCs suppresses IL-5 production from T cells in atopic asthma...