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In new research, investigators show that the 100-year-old Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, originally developed to prevent tuberculosis, protects individuals with type 1 diabetes from severe COVID-19 disease and other infectious diseases. Two back-to-back randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trials found that the BCG vaccine provided continuous protection for nearly the entire COVID-19 pandemic in the US, regardless of the viral variant. The MGH Phase II and Phase III clinical trials testing BCG differed from other BCG trials in important ways. Instead of receiving one dose of BCG, participants received five or six doses of a particularly potent strain of BCG vaccine. The...

A study found that a single dose of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), the vaccine for tuberculosis (TB), reduced liver tumor burden and extended the survival of mice with liver cancer. The study is the first to show the promising effects of the vaccine in treating liver cancer. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer. BCG, the century-old TB vaccine, is considered safe and widely used around the world. BCG is also known to boost the body's immunity. The U.S. FDA has approved it for the treatment of bladder cancer. Yet, the potential effect of BCG in treating...

As Canada's flu season collides with record strep A cases and ongoing COVID-19 concerns, a new study is shedding light on our understanding of respiratory immune responses. Scholars have discovered a surprising facet about a century-old vaccine for tuberculosis, Bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG). The study uncovered a previously unknown mechanism that extends the vaccine's shield to combat influenza A virus—the most prevalent flu strain. "The immune interactions involved here can 'train' the lungs, which are frequently exposed to infectious agents in the environment. If we can map out the protective immune pathways involved in the lungs, this will revolutionize our...

Studies suggest the BCG jab discovered a century ago could provide a cheap and effective way of boosting the immune system to protect people from developing the conditionScientific discoveries can emerge from the strangest places. In early 1900s France, the doctor Albert Calmette and the veterinarian Camille Guérin aimed to discover how bovine tuberculosis was transmitted. To do so, they first had to find a way of cultivating the bacteria. Sliced potatoes – cooked with ox bile and glycerine – proved to be the perfect medium. As the bacteria grew, however, Calmette and Guérin were surprised to find that each...

Human trials for a tuberculosis vaccine thought to boost immune systems in the fight against coronavirus are underway in Australia but despite the promising outlook, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned against using the vaccine outside of clinical settings. WHO has released a statement reminding countries around the world that the Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG) used to fight tuberculosis infection is not recommended for preventing coronavirus. It acknowledged that while experimental trials had been conducted and two related to fighting coronavirus were underway, their relevance to the pandemic was still unknown. "Two clinical trials addressing this question are underway,...

Coronavirus death rates are nearly six times lower in countries that use a nearly century-old tuberculosis vaccine, a new study found. The study, conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that the COVID-19 mortality rate among countries that use the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination was 5.8 times lower than in those that do not.

A microbiologist in Germany believes that the use of an updated version of a 100-year-old Tuberculosis vaccine may work as an intermediate treatment for Covid-19. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reports.

Researchers in four countries will soon start a clinical trial of an unorthodox approach to the new coronavirus. They will test whether a century-old vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), a bacterial disease, can rev up the human immune system in a broad way, allowing it to better fight the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 and, perhaps, prevent infection with it altogether. The studies will be done in physicians and nurses, who are at higher risk of becoming infected with the respiratory disease than the general population, and in the elderly, who are at higher risk of serious illness if they...

Global Update The vaccine against tuberculosis that is routinely given to 75 percent of the world’s infants is too risky to give to those born infected with the AIDS virus, says a new study published by the World Health Organization. It recommended that vaccination be delayed until babies can be tested. The Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine, known as BCG, protects children well against deadly tuberculous meningitis, though it does less well against the lung form. It has been in use since 1921, and children in many countries — though not the United States, which never adopted it — bear its characteristic...