Frequency of Accelerated Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Response in Bacillus Calmette-Guerin Vaccinated Children

Abstract

Background: BCG is a vaccine obtained by attenuating Mycobacterium bovis. It is a fairly safe vaccine with no associated complications. Aim: To determine the frequency of accelerated BCG response in BCG vaccinated children. Study design: Descriptive case series. Methodology: A total of 124 already BCG vaccinated patients, having age in the range of 6 months to 10 years of either gender were included in the study. Patients with known case of TB and any other systemic disease were excluded. After this, BCG vaccination was given by the researcher himself who noted the in-duration after 72 hrs of BCG vaccination accelerated response of BCG. Chi square test was applied with P-value <0.05 as significant. Results: Mean age was 6.02±2.22 years. Out of the 124 patients, 63(50.81%) were male and 61(49.19%) were females. Mean duration of previous BCG was 4.75±2.41 years. Frequency of accelerated BCG response in BCG vaccinated children was found in 76(61.29%) patients. Conclusion: This study concluded that the frequency of accelerated BCG response in BCG vaccinated children was 61.29%. So, we suggested that public awareness programs should be arranged to educate people for compulsory BCG vaccination of their children. Keywords: Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) Vaccine, Accelerated BCG Response and Tuberculosis.