Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine

The bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine is the only vaccine available for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and despite its global use for 90 years, with proven efficacy and a good safety record, has well-known limitations. It provides only limited protection against pulmonary tuberculosis.

The vaccine comprises a live attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis, which lacks any intrinsic virulence.

It also has an important role in the immunotherapy of early stage bladder carcinoma .

History and etymology

The Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccine was researched for more than ten years by two French bacteriologists before entering clinical use. The scientists were Leon Charles Albert Calmette (1863-1933), in Nice, France, and Camille Guérin (1872-1961), working at the Pasteur Institute .

Initial trials of their vaccine in cattle in 1924 were a success. Tragically in December 1929, a large trial of 251 neonates with the new vaccine at Lubeck General Hospital in Germany, resulted in 72 deaths due to inadvertent contamination of the vaccine with a live virulent strain during manufacture of the inoculum. This has become known as the Lubeck disaster and was unsurprisingly a major international health scandal at the time . Nevertheless, the vaccine was successfully introduced in 1930, initially in France and Norway. Although it was not licensed for regular use in the UK until 1946 .

Siehe auch:

• Lymphadenitis nach BCG-Impfung