NEW HOPE FOR BLOCKING TB INFECTION.Byline: Denise Mann Medical Tribune News Service New research in mice may lead the way to an effective vaccine against tuberculosis, two studies suggest. When scientists injected mice with genetic material from the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, the mice developed immunity to TB, two research teams reported in the August issue of the journal Nature Medicine. The results should help scientists develop a human vaccine against TB that is more effective than the one that is currently available - the Bacillus bacillus (bəsĭl`əs), any rod-shaped bacterium or, more particularly, a rod-shaped bacterium of the genus Bacillus. Some bacterium in the genus cause disease, for example B. of Calmette and Gurin (BCG BCG bacille Calmette-Guérin. BCG abbr. 1. bacillus Calmette-Guérin 2. ballistocardiogram BCG, n.pr See bacille Calmette-Guórin. ) vaccine - said researcher Douglas B. Lowrie of the National Institute for Medical Research The National Institute For Medical Research, commonly abbreviated to NIMR, is a large medical research facility situated in rural Mill Hill, England, on the outskirts of London. in London. The BCG vaccine BCG vaccine n. A vaccine containing attenuated human tubercle bacilli that is used for immunization against tuberculosis. Also called tuberculosis vaccine. involves injecting people with live attenuated Attenuated Alive but weakened; an attenuated microorganism can no longer produce disease. Mentioned in: Tuberculin Skin Test attenuated having undergone a process of attenuation. bacteria in hopes that their bodies will develop resistance to infection. However, its effectiveness in preventing tuberculosis is not certain. Tuberculosis, a bacterial lung infection, strikes one-third of the world's population and is responsible for 3 million deaths each year. In addition, as many as 15 million people in the United States have hidden, or latent, TB infection that eventually could develop into active disease, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Md. Yet few new drug treatments or prevention strategies have been developed to fight tuberculosis, said Dr. Lee Reichman, executive director of the New Jersey Medical School's National Tuberculosis Center in Newark. ``The current tuberculosis vaccine tuberculosis vaccine n. See BCG vaccine. ... has numerous problems, not the least of which is its nonefficacy,'' he said. ``I am glad to see that there is work being done, and I hope this research brings us closer'' to halting the spread of tuberculosis, he added. The new TB vaccine is ``an efficient and simple method for generating protective immunity,'' wrote Margaret Liu of Merck Research Laboratories in West Point, Pa., author of the second study. The CDC See Control Data, century date change and Back Orifice. CDC - Control Data Corporation recommends the BCG vaccine only for infants and children who live in communities where TB is rampant, and for health-care workers who are routinely exposed to this highly infectious disease. |
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