The prevention of tuberculosis by B.C.G. vaccination
is now an accepted public health measure in almost
every country in the world. A striking exception is
the United States of America, where B.C.G. has so
far not been used on a national scale. This is surprising,
for as long ago as 1949 the American Trudeau
Society advocated the vaccination of contacts and
others at special risk from tuberculosis; and the value
of B.C.G. in such circumstances is also accepted by
the United States Public Health Service. Medical
opinion about B.C.G. may become more favourable
in the U.S.A. now that a medical advisory committee
has examined the validity of the objections raised to
vaccination there.' Some of these objections are of
long standing, and, although formerly advanced in
other countries as well as the U.S.A., are now less
seldom heard elsewhere. The committee, for
example, examines and accepts the view that the safety
of B.C.G. is undoubted. As to the efficacy of the
vaccine, the committee's report discusses in some
detail the early findings2 of the Medical Research
Council's clinical trial of tuberculosis vaccines at
present being undertaken in this country, and conclude
that the results " can leave no doubt in the mind
of an unbiased observer that B.C.G. afforded a substantial
protection against tuberculous disease." The
contribution made to the prevention of tuberculosis
by vaccination would in all likelihood more than compensate
for the loss of the tuberculin test as a diagnostic
measure.
摘自NIH, 我姐姐在那里工作过快十年。。。