Differential protective effect of bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine against multibacillary and paucibacillary leprosy in Nagpur, India.
For this paper we conducted a secondary data analysis to test the hypothesis that a linear trend exists in the protective effect of bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine against types of leprosy. We used data from two previous case-control studies to perform an unmatched test for linear trend. We observed that both the studies revealed a significant linear trend (P<0.00001). One study that estimated an insignificant protective effect of BCG against paucibacillary leprosy showed a significant departure from linearity. We conclude that, the protective effect of BCG vaccination is differential across severity of leprosy as it brings about a shift in the immune response to a higher level of cell mediated immunity. We recommend that future studies dealing with the protective effect of BCG against leprosy should also conduct an analysis for trend.
Kulkarni
H R
HR
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Government Medical College, Nagpur, India.
Zodpey
S P
SP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001500:BCG Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007918:Leprosy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012923:Social Class
D001500:BCG Vaccine