02288nas a2200493 4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001500055653001000070653000900080653001600089653002500105653001000130653002100140653002000161653001100181653001100192653001100203653002000214653001300234653001200247653000900259653001600268653001500284653001700299653001600316653001400332100001300346700001400359700001300373700001400386700001300400700001400413700001200427700001300439700001400452245008100466856004100547300001100588490000700599050001500606520115900621022001401780 1993 d c1993 Jun10aAdolescent10aAdult10aAged10aBCG Vaccine10aCase-Control Studies10aChild10aChild, Preschool10aContact Tracing10aFemale10aHumans10aInfant10aInfant, Newborn10aLepromin10aleprosy10aMale10aMiddle Aged10aPrevalence10aRisk Factors10aVaccination10aVenezuela1 aConvit J1 aSmith P G1 aZuniga M1 aSampson C1 aUlrich M1 aPlata J A1 aSilva J1 aMolina J1 aSalgado A00aBCG vaccination protects against leprosy in Venezuela: a case-control study. uhttp://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v61n2a01.pdf a185-910 v61 aCONVIT19933 a

A total of 64,570 household and other close contacts of about 2000 leprosy cases were screened for eligibility for entry into a trial of a new leprosy vaccine. The screening procedure included a clinical examination for leprosy and for the presence of BCG and lepromin scars. Ninety-five new cases of leprosy were identified, and the prevalence of BCG and lepromin scars among them was compared with similar data from matched controls selected from among those with no evidence of leprosy. The difference in the prevalence of BCG scars in the two groups was used to estimate the protection against leprosy conferred by BCG vaccination. One or more BCG scars was associated with a protective efficacy of 56% (95% confidence limits 27% to 74%). There was a trend of increasing protection with four or more BCG scars, but this was not statistically significant. There was no evidence that the efficacy of BCG varied with age or according to whether or not the contact lived in the same household as a case. The protective effect was significantly higher among males, and was significantly greater for multibacillary than for paucibacillary leprosy.

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