Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine: Past, present and future
Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a live attenuated vaccine that has been used since 1921. The vaccine was developed by Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin through serial passage of Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) at the Pasteur Institute Paris, France. M. bovis is a major cause of tuberculosis (TB) in a range of animal species (e.g. cattle) and man. BCG was derived by 230 serial passages on slices of potato imbibed with glycerol for 13 years. After the BCG was proven to be no longer virulent, it was shared with different laboratories across the world. The laboratories continued passaging, concomitantly resulting in several different types of BCG strains. One particular strain, M. bovis BCG 1173P2 (Pasteur), has been passaged 1,173 times at the Pasteur Institute Paris. Globally, five strains (Japanese, Russian, Danish, Pasteur and Moreau) account for >90% of the world’s BCG production.
Asthma and COVID-19: What should patients know?
2020 has been a very uncertain time in everyone’s lives but as Marie Curie said: “Nothing in life is to be feared it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” Now, more than ever, we need to understand the importance of compliance and control of asthma in all age groups. Patients with moderate to severe asthma may be at a higher risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 disease, therefore asthma control is of utmost importance during this pandemic. The better the control the less likely one will have exacerbations and possible complications during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethics: Mandatory vaccination or not? An ethical approach to inform strategies to increase vaccination coverage
There is no doubt that vaccination against communicable diseases has been one of the most successful strategies in the modern world to reduce childhood mortality. Despite these successes, there is a growing anti-vaccination movement which has potential to erode the benefits gained from vaccination. It is against this backdrop that theorists and policy-makers have suggested that vaccination (at least for certain vaccines) be made mandatory.
Attempts allowed: 2
70% pass rate