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Vaccination against leprosy at Ben San Leprosy Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Abstract

Three vaccines, BCG alone, BCG + 10(7) killed Mycobacterium vaccae and 10(8) killed M. vaccae alone, were studied in children living in close contact with leprosy. In the year before vaccination, 14/446 (3.1%) children had developed leprosy. Among those who were not vaccinated, 9/74 (12.2%) developed the disease in the first 4 years of the study and 5/65 (7.7%) developed the disease in the second 4 years. In comparison with this, among those vaccinated, 20/343 (5.8%) developed leprosy in the first 4 years and 5/323 (1.5%) developed leprosy in the second 4 years. This represents 52.5% protection in the first 4 years and 80.5% in the second 4 years. There were no significant differences in protection afforded by each of the three vaccines but the success of the killed preparation of M. vaccae is an important finding.

More information

Type
Journal Article
Author
Truoc L V
Ly H M
Thuy N K
Trach D D
Stanford C A
Stanford J L