摘要：The use of BCG vaccine in the prevention of leprosy has been one of the most important subjects of investigation in the field of leprology in the last 25 years. The action of the vaccine was for many years investigated by determining its effect on the lepromin reaction. Field studies were later considered essential to determine whether BCG vaccination would be useful to leprosy contacts, to the child population probably exposed to infection, or to persons persistently lepromin-negative. The interest of the World Health Organization in this matter began in 1952 and, following the recommendations of certain advisory committees, it was decided to institute a field trial in Singu township in Burma. The main purpose of the investigation was to observe, in a highly endemic area, the protective effect, if any, of BCG vaccine against leprosy in the child population not exposed to Mycobacterium leprae at home but possibly exposed to the infection elsewhere. Field operations began at the end of August 1964 and the preliminary findings obtained up to the end of June 1968 relate to 3 annual re-examinations. So far, from the material studied, it appears that, under the conditions prevailing in Singu township, no significant effect of BCG vaccine can be seen within a period of 3 years. When children in both trial groups are followed-up for much longer periods, mainly children aged 0-4 years at intake, it is possible that a significant difference may emerge. However, to be operationally desirable, a merely significant difference is not enough; the protective effect of BCG should be substantial to warrant its large-scale use as an immunization procedure against leprosy. Full text Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version. Get a printable copy (PDF file) of the complete article (6.2M), or click on a page image below to browse page by page. Links to PubMed are also available for Selected References . 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281
