Common tuberculosis vaccine can be used to prevent infection as well as disease
Wednesday, August 6, 2014 - 11:02
in Health & Medicine
The vaccine used to protect against tuberculosis disease, bacillus calmette-guerin or BCG, also protects against tuberculosis infection, mycobacterium, as well as protecting against progression from infection to disease, finds new research. The BCG vaccine has been subject to numerous trials and studies over several decades, which have shown that it has a 60-80% protective efficacy against severe forms of tuberculosis (TB) in children. But to date there has been a lack of evidence on whether the vaccine is effective against TB infection.