Vaccinations for the prevention of tuberculosis
2018
D. T. Levi | N. V. Aleksandrova
BCG vaccine for tuberculosis was developed nearly 100 years ago and still remains the only medicine for specific immunological prevention of tuberculosis. Despite the fact it has been actively used for a long time in more than 100 countries, the results of vaccination are very contradictory. The protective effect of BCG vaccination is assessed from 0 to 80%, while the efficacy of BCG vaccination in children, especially in infants, is generally recognized. BCG helps to reduce tenfold the number of tuberculous meningitis and disseminated tuberculosis in children. However BCG neither protects the population from mycobacteria infections nor the adults from pulmonary tuberculosis, although it prevents extrapulmonary tuberculosis. For the last 20 years new tuberculosis vaccines have been intensive developed, their efficacy is believed to exceed the efficacy of BCG vaccine, with the minimized adverse reactions. Nevertheless out of more than 200 tuberculosis vaccine candidates only few were allowed for clinical trials. In the upcoming years the humanity can not count upon a medicine that could replace BCG. Therefore the research efforts should be focused on improving BCG vaccine in order to enhance its protective effect and to reduce adverse effects.
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