A Website Containing Information on TB Vaccination Policies Launched

Canadian researchers at McGill University have launched a new website containing information about tuberculosis vaccination policies in more than 180 countries which is believed to help people travelling abroad, doctors, policymakers and researchers to find detailed information on TB vaccination policies.

Experts are of opinion that this information would surely help a lot of people to decide whether the preliminary skin test is adequate or whether further blood tests are required or not.

If a person can have access to a country’s policy on vaccination then he could decide whether a medical report may be inaccurate because of an overuse of the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine.

Tuberculosis (TB) is known to be caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), which spreads through the air as a result of coughing and attacks the lungs. A recent study has also found that a protein secreted by the TB bacteria could be used as a new vaccine and it also helped improving TB diagnosis.

Senior author, Professor Ajit Lalvani, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, said, “Despite most of the world’s population having had a BCG vaccination, there are still 9 million new cases of TB every year. So we urgently need to develop a more effective vaccine for TB. EspC provokes a very strong immune response and is also highly specific to MTB”.