NIRT to study if booster BCG can help prevent tuberculosis
Chennai, 7 Jul: Scientists at the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis searched to launch research to provide BCG responsiveness to children and adolescents aged 6-18 years who are household contact with tuberculosis patients to measure whether the BCG booster will help prevent the disease in among them.The only tuberculosis vaccine (TB) that is clinically approved is clinically-Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG)-given at the time of birth.The efficacy of BCG vaccination in newborns has been known and has a protective effect that is documented against Meningitis and Disseminata TB in children, Dr. Padma Priyadarshini, Director, National Institute of ICMR for Tuberculosis Research (NIRT).
However, scientists said there was a considerable uncertainty about BCG defiance. It is known that the BCG revacation increases immunity response, but it has not been determined if BCG revacation can help prevent TB in household contact, he said.The main objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of BCG rescination compared to oral chemoprofilaxis in preventing tuberculosis in household contact from the same age group,” said Dr. Priyadarshini.
A total of 9,200 children will be recruited in seven locations in India for this research.The study is designed as a multicenter random controlled trial with two healthy household contact groups aged 6-18 years who receive BCG vaccine or oral chemoprofilaxis.They will be followed up for 24 months to compare TB events in each arm.Until now, there is no reported data about how many children develop the disease in this age group and how many died because of this disease, said Dr. Priyadarshini.
“We have received all regulatory approval. We are waiting for funds to be released. We prepare the site. We hope to start our studies before the end of this month, “he said.According to official sources, the Indian Medical Research Council (ICMR) has conducted a round of discussion with the Ministry of Health for the Revacation of BCG adults, and other meetings are scheduled for next week.All children will be the household contact of pulmonary TB patients who are confirmed microbiologically. C-TB skin tests positive and negative children will be included.
Likewise, both children who are nutritional and malnourished will be included. All children will be followed up for 24 months after the recruitment and TB incident (all forms – PTB/EPTB) will be compared between groups.India has promised to end Tuberculosis in 2025, five years ahead of the Global Sustainable Development Objectives (SDG) in 2030.
