Word: bcg
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Among the many mysteries of tuberculosis, none is greater than the inability of doctors on opposite sides of the Atlantic to agree on the value of BCG vaccine (TIME, Dec. 25, 1950) as a TB preventive. Medical men in Europe, and especially Scandinavia, look at the reports on their BCG programs and see "proof" that the vaccine is effective in conferring immunity. Doctors in the U.S. look at the same reports (supposedly scientific, and therefore objective) and sneer: it's no good. In this crossfire the British stayed neutral for years, finally started a searching BCG test of their...
...founders) gathered in Atlantic City for the soth anniversary meeting of the N.T.A., the TB picture seemed radically different. The disease has slid from first to ninth place among causes of U.S. deaths, and the rate has dropped to 16 per 100,000. There is a vaccine, BCG (Bacillus of Calmette and Guérin), which is fairly effective under some conditions. There are at least three wonder drugs-isoniazid, streptomycin & PAS-which can arrest a majority of TB infections, if not cure them. And with the aid of these drugs, daring surgery can save many patients...
Many Unknowns. Researchers reported many promising new things for the continuing fight against TB: a drug which is related to isoniazid, and looks just as good; a powdered extract of bacilli to make a vaccine which compares with BCG; better understanding of the need for vitamins A and C in treating patients. But the dominant tone of the meetings was a harshly realistic note sounded by the Rockefeller Institute's famed Bacteriologist Rene Jules Dubos...
...Though this was the period when streptomycin worked its greatest wonders, Pennsylvania laid the basis for continuing betterment. More unsuspected cases are being found through mass X-ray programs, and 36 centers for surgical treatment have been set up. Vaccination with BCG is being tested. However, Pennsylvania still needs nearly twice as many beds as it has (3,902) for TB patients...
...greatest decreases [in TB] and the lowest mortality rates in the world have occurred in places where BCG has not been used," said Dr. Myers. In Denmark, where BCG has been extensively, used, the death rate was cut in 30 years from 174 to 30 per 100,000, but in Iceland, with similar people and conditions, it has been cut in 20 years from 203 to 26 without BCG. In Rio de Janeiro, the death rate has dropped among unvaccinated adults but increased among BCG-vaccinated infants...