TY - JOUR KW - Adolescent KW - BCG Vaccine KW - Brazil KW - Case-Control Studies KW - Child KW - Child, Preschool KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Infant KW - leprosy KW - Male KW - Prevalence KW - Risk Factors KW - Urban Health AU - Lombardi C AU - Pedrazzani E S AU - Pedrazzani J C AU - Filho P F AU - Zicker F AB -

The case-control study reported here evaluated the protective effect of BCG vaccine against leprosy in São Paulo, Brazil. Seventy-eight patients under age 16 who had been diagnosed as having leprosy (cases) and 385 healthy individuals (controls) were selected and matched by sex, age, place of residence, and type of exposure to leprosy (intradomiciliary or extradomiciliary). The cases were drawn from an active patient registry and from a group of new leprosy cases treated at 50 health centers in the cities of Bauru and Ribeirão Preto in the state of São Paulo. In order to estimate the protective effect of BCG, the prevalences of BCG scars in cases and controls were compared. The presence of one or more scars was associated with an estimated protective efficacy of 90% (95% confidence interval: 78% to 96%). Stratified analysis by age group, sex, socioeconomic level, and clinical form of the disease revealed no significant differences in the protection provided by the vaccine. However, it seems clear that more data will be needed in order to accurately assess the true relevance of BCG for leprosy control programs.

BT - Bulletin of the Pan American Health Organization C1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8919722?dopt=Abstract DA - 1996 Mar IS - 1 J2 - Bull Pan Am Health Organ LA - eng N2 -

The case-control study reported here evaluated the protective effect of BCG vaccine against leprosy in São Paulo, Brazil. Seventy-eight patients under age 16 who had been diagnosed as having leprosy (cases) and 385 healthy individuals (controls) were selected and matched by sex, age, place of residence, and type of exposure to leprosy (intradomiciliary or extradomiciliary). The cases were drawn from an active patient registry and from a group of new leprosy cases treated at 50 health centers in the cities of Bauru and Ribeirão Preto in the state of São Paulo. In order to estimate the protective effect of BCG, the prevalences of BCG scars in cases and controls were compared. The presence of one or more scars was associated with an estimated protective efficacy of 90% (95% confidence interval: 78% to 96%). Stratified analysis by age group, sex, socioeconomic level, and clinical form of the disease revealed no significant differences in the protection provided by the vaccine. However, it seems clear that more data will be needed in order to accurately assess the true relevance of BCG for leprosy control programs.

PY - 1996 SP - 24 EP - 30 T2 - Bulletin of the Pan American Health Organization TI - Protective efficacy of BCG against leprosy in São Paulo. UR - http://iris.paho.org/xmlui/handle/123456789/27760 VL - 30 SN - 0085-4638 ER -