Is there a vaccine for tuberculosis?

As we all know, when people eat out, they are most afraid of an unclean dining environment and the risk of contracting infectious diseases, so many companies now arrange a physical examination process before joining the company. Among them, tuberculosis is one of the most dreaded infectious diseases, and its main characteristic is that it is highly contagious. Generally, the disease is caused by respiratory infections, such as sharing personal belongings with people who have the disease, eating and drinking together, etc. Therefore, it is particularly important to prevent the onset of tuberculosis. Currently, the popular medical technology is to get the tuberculosis vaccine in advance.

Tuberculosis is a chronic disease. The onset of tuberculosis will result in different symptoms depending on the strength of the virus and the body's resistance. So how to prevent tuberculosis? The prevention of tuberculosis mainly involves controlling the source of infection, cutting off the transmission route, and protecting people who are susceptible to infection. For patients whose sputum contains tuberculosis bacteria, they should be isolated and treated properly. Pulmonary tuberculosis is mainly transmitted through respiratory tract infection. When patients with pulmonary tuberculosis go out, it is best to wear a mask to prevent the tuberculosis bacteria from spreading to normal people through the respiratory tract. For those who are weak and susceptible to infection, appropriate measures should be taken if the tuberculin test is positive. Let’s take a look at what the vaccine for preventing tuberculosis is called.

BCG is a non-toxic live bacterial vaccine that can prevent the occurrence of tuberculosis, especially miliary tuberculosis and tuberculous meningitis in children. This has been proven by a large amount of practice and is recognized by everyone.

Newborns have poor resistance to various diseases, including tuberculosis. Since specific cellular immunity against tuberculosis cannot be passed from the mother to the baby, once infected with tuberculosis bacteria, hematogenous dissemination can easily occur, followed by miliary tuberculosis and tuberculous meningitis. The two most severe forms of TB also have the highest mortality rates. BCG can prevent the hematogenous spread of tuberculosis bacteria, and therefore has special effects in preventing miliary tuberculosis and tuberculous meningitis. In some areas where vaccination is consistently carried out, tuberculous meningitis among children aged 0-4 is almost eliminated, and no children under the age of 14 have died from tuberculosis. Therefore, it is best to vaccinate normally developed babies with BCG as soon as they are born to prevent tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis prevention

1. People who are not infected with BCG, such as newborns, new recruits and new trainees with negative tuberculin test, adolescent staff members newly arrived at tuberculosis medical units, and adolescents receiving kidney transplants, should all be vaccinated with BCG.

2. Chemoprevention Selective chemoprevention for those already infected is as follows:

(1) Close contacts of patients with bacterial excretion, such as children with positive BCG test (not vaccinated with BCG) and adolescents with strong positive test.

(2) The test results of tuberculin in children and adolescents are positive, and the test results of tuberculin in adults are strongly positive.

(3) Inactive pulmonary tuberculosis with any of the following conditions:

① Those who have been treated with large amounts of glucocorticoids, immunosuppressants, or cytotoxic drugs for a long time; ② Radiotherapy; ③ Before and after gastrectomy; ④ New recruits and new trainees with a strong positive tuberculin test; ⑤ Those with dual infection of tuberculosis and HIV, and AIDS patients with a positive tuberculin test; ⑥ Kidney transplant recipients with tuberculosis or inactive pulmonary tuberculosis; ⑦ Diabetes combined with inactive pulmonary tuberculosis; ⑧ Patients with silicosis (silicosis) with a positive tuberculin test. For chemoprevention, isoniazid is used at a dose of 0.3 g/d for adults and 6-8 mg/(ks·d) for children, taken all at once for 6 months.

3. Eliminate the source of infection. Sputum smear-positive (smear-positive) pulmonary tuberculosis is the main source of infection. Eliminating the source of infection is the fundamental measure to control tuberculosis. Patients with newly diagnosed smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis and patients with relapsed smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis are the main targets of chemotherapy.