4 ms·
The title of the article seems to suggest no vaccines are available for these diseases, but at least in the case of tuberculosis there is one [1]. The article d
by ezequiel-garzon 8y ago
The title of the article seems to suggest no vaccines are available for these diseases, but at least in the case of tuberculosis there is one [1]. The article does refer to it:
“The foundation still hopes to show that booster doses of BCG, a century-old childhood tuberculosis vaccine, can protect adolescents and that a vaccine candidate it is developing with GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical company, will stop latent tuberculosis from becoming active.”
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/basics/vaccines.htm https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/basics/vaccines.htm
- classichasclass 8y agoBCG has its own issues, though. Immunity wanes after awhile, the protection is incomplete and it seems to be more effective at preventing extrapulmonary disease than pulmonary. This by no means says it's useless. It has probably greatly diminished pediatric tuberculous meningitis in at-risk counties, which can be devastating (one of my nightmare cases was a two-year-old who lost part of his occipital lobe to contaminated dairy). In low-prevalence countries, however, where pulmonary TB is the primary concern, its utility is questionable. https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/prevention/bcg.htm https://www.cdc.gov/tb/publications/factsheets/prevention/bc...