Immunological efficacy of Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccination in Egyptian children:case series

Bacille Calmette-Gu6rin(BCG) vaccine is one of the most widely used vaccines in children.In Egypt,it is a part of the national compulsory childhood immunization program.The most controversial aspect of BCG is the variable efficacy found in different studies.This study was to evaluate the efficacy status of the available BCG vaccine in Egypt within the last 10 years(BCG-Copenhagen).The pilot cross sectional study included 597 Egyptian children randomly selected.Their ages ranged from 6 months to 10 years old(mean5 years,median: 3 years).All were assessed for history of BCG vaccine intake(primary at infancy and/or secondary at school age) and examined for the presence BCG scar.A group of the vaccinated children(62 children with BCG scar and 69 children without BCG scar) were further assessed with tuberculin skin test(TST).Prevalence of BCG vaccine intake in the studied children was 86.9%(519/597).Efficacy in term of BCG scar after vaccination was 66.6%(346/519).However,efficacy in term of post BCG vaccination tuberculin sensitization was only 3.8%(5/131).BCG vaccination program in Egypt seems to be widely prevalent;however, the immunological efficacy of the available strain is questionable.