[BCG vaccination in the world].
BCG vaccination programme and BCG vaccination coverage in the world were summarized mainly based on the published informations from official organizations, such as World Health Organization (WHO), International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). From this review, we can see how widely BCG has been used for the prevention of tuberculosis in the world. In most of the developing countries, especially in Africa, the Americas, and Pacific Region, BCG vaccination is carried out to newborn babies soon after birth by intradermal injection according to the recommendations from WHO, but some of the developing countries in Asia and Europe have their own modified BCG vaccination programmes. In economically developed countries, BCG vaccination programme has been established according to the tuberculosis status of each countries. Some countries have general vaccination policy, and other countries have selected vaccination policy, but there is no country where BCG vaccination is not carried out at all. Among G8 contries, as representatives of the economically developed countries, Japan, United Kingdom, France and Russian Federation have BCG general vaccination policy for the specified age group. In these 4 countries revaccination (s) of BCG are still carried out. In Germany, some provinces have general vaccination policy and some others have selected vaccination policy. In the United States of America, BCG vaccination is recommended to selected high risk infants and health care workers by CDC. There are many debates as for the efficacy and safety of BCG vaccination, and the development of new vaccine better than BCG has been actively discussed and some encouraging results in animal models have been reported from several laboratories. But, there is almost no possibility to be able to use a new vaccine in the routine practice within a couple of years. From the practical point of view, therefore, the operational researches for the better and more appropriate usage of BCG are equally important and more practical than the researches for the development of new vaccines.
Toida
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Japan BCG Laboratory, Japan.
D001500:BCG Vaccine; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014944:World Health Organization
D001500:BCG Vaccine