BACKGROUND Although the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) has been available for more than 75 years, one third of the world's population is still infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and approximately 2 million people die of TB every year. To reduce this immense TB burden, a clearer understanding of the functional genes underlying the action of BCG and the dev...

Interferon (IFN)-gamma responsiveness to 12 purified protein derivative (PPD) and new tuberculin antigens from 9 species of mycobacteria was assessed, using a whole blood assay, in 616 young adults living in northern Malawi, where Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination provides no protection against pulmonary tuberculosis. The prevalence of IFN-gamma responsiveness was hi...

The emergence of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains and the widespread occurrence of AIDS demand newer and more efficient control of tuberculosis. The protective efficacy of the current Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is highly variable. Therefore, development of an effective new vaccine has gained momentum in recent years. Recently, several M. tuberculo...

We demonstrate here that immunizing naïve mice with low numbers of recombinant Bacille Calmette-Guérin (rBCG) expressing beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) generates predominant Th1 responses to both BCG and beta-gal whereas infection with high numbers generates a mixed Th1/Th2 response to both BCG and beta-gal. Furthermore, the Th1 response to both BCG and beta-gal is stable when mice, pre-exposed ...

Despite the use of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination for many years, infants and young children exposed to adults with infectious forms of tuberculosis (TB) are at high risk of developing complicated TB disease. This risk is much higher among HIV-infected children, and data on BCG protective efficacy in HIV-infected children is lacking. Recent research on BCG safety in HIV-infected inf...

The effect of methylprednisolone sodium succinate treatment on Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunization was examined in alveolar macrophages of New Zealand White rabbits. Intravenous BCG injection caused a marked increase in cell number and in the hexosemonophosphate shunt activity. There was also a selective augmentation in the activity of acid phosphatase and beta-glucuronidase and an incr...

We evaluated critical variables in Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy of residual 13762A rat mammary adenocarcinoma. BCG was given intratumorally on Day 7 of tumor growth and followed by primary tumor excisions on Day 20. Untreated animals died on about Day 40 with axillary nodal and pulmonary parenchymal metastases. BCG-treated animals experienced prolonged survival, and some were cu...

The bacilli Calmette-Guérin (BCG) Tokyo-172 strain was considered to exhibit good protective efficacy with a low rate of unfavorable side effects. However, we describe a rare case of BCG osteomyelitis developed in an immunocompetent host who was given with BCG Tokyo-172 vaccine on the left upper arm by multipuncture method. A 9-month-old girl presented with progressive inability to move her rig...

Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the only available vaccine for tuberculosis (TB). Although this vaccine is effective in controlling infantile TB, BCG-induced protective effects against pulmonary diseases in adults have not been clearly demonstrated. Recombinant BCG (rBCG) technology has been extensively applied to obtain more potent immunogenicity of this vaccine, and sever...

We have examined the effect of killing of host monocytes infected with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) on the viability of the intracellular mycobacteria. Peripheral blood monocytes were infected in vitro with a single bacillus per cell and maintained in culture for 6-8 d to allow the bacilli to replicate. Replicating viable BCG were found singly in perinuclear vacuoles bounded by tightly appose...