Why a century-old vaccine offers new hope against pathogens
The B.C.G. the tuberculosis vaccine can protect against Covid-19 and other infections by greatly boosting the immune system.
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when prevention seemed light years away, several scientists launched trials to see if a tuberculosis vaccine developed in the early 1900s could protect people by boosting the immune system.
The Bacillus-Calmette-Guerin vaccine has long been known to have broad effects on the immune system, and is still given to infants in developing countries and countries where tuberculosis is prevalent.
Scientists observed many years ago that the vaccine appears to train the immune system to respond to a variety of infectious diseases, including viruses, bacteria and parasites, and reduce infant mortality island. re-emerge and the coronavirus continues to evolve, the potential of th ancient vaccine to provide a universal protective measure against infectious disease has sparked renewed interest among scientists.
Now the results of clinical trials conducted during the pandemic are coming in, and the results, while mixed, are encouraging.
The latest results, released Monday in Cell Medicine Reports, come from a trial initiated before the emergence of Covid-19. It was designed to see if multiple B.C.G. injections could benefit people with type 1 diabetes, who are highly susceptible to infections.
In January 2020, at the start of the pandemic, investigators began to track Covid infections among the trial's 144 participants. All had type 1 diabetes; two-thirds had received at least three B.C.G. doses before the pandemic. The remaining third had received multiple placebo injections.
Scientists are still evaluating the long-term effects of the vaccine on type 1 diabetes itself. But they commissioned an independent group to look at Covid infections among the participants for 15 months, before any of them had received the Covid vaccines.
Although the trial was relatively small, " the results are as dramatic as the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines,” said Dr. Denise Faustman, lead study author and director of immunobiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
People with type 1 diabetes are particularly prone to infections. "We have seen a significant decrease in bladder infections, fewer flus and fewer colds, fewer respiratory tract infections and fewer sinus infections that diabetics get a lot," Dr. Faustman added.
The vaccine "appears to reset the host's immune response to be more alert, more primed, not as slow."
Another try of the B.C.G. of 300 older Greek adults, all of whom had health problems like heart or lung disease, found that the BCG vaccine reduced Covid-19 infections by two-thirds and also reduced rates of other respiratory infections.
>Only two people who received the vaccine were hospitalized with Covid-19, compared to six who received the placebo injections, according to the study published in July in Frontiers in Immunology.< /p>
The B.C.G. the tuberculosis vaccine can protect against Covid-19 and other infections by greatly boosting the immune system.
At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when prevention seemed light years away, several scientists launched trials to see if a tuberculosis vaccine developed in the early 1900s could protect people by boosting the immune system.
The Bacillus-Calmette-Guerin vaccine has long been known to have broad effects on the immune system, and is still given to infants in developing countries and countries where tuberculosis is prevalent.
Scientists observed many years ago that the vaccine appears to train the immune system to respond to a variety of infectious diseases, including viruses, bacteria and parasites, and reduce infant mortality island. re-emerge and the coronavirus continues to evolve, the potential of th ancient vaccine to provide a universal protective measure against infectious disease has sparked renewed interest among scientists.
Now the results of clinical trials conducted during the pandemic are coming in, and the results, while mixed, are encouraging.
The latest results, released Monday in Cell Medicine Reports, come from a trial initiated before the emergence of Covid-19. It was designed to see if multiple B.C.G. injections could benefit people with type 1 diabetes, who are highly susceptible to infections.
In January 2020, at the start of the pandemic, investigators began to track Covid infections among the trial's 144 participants. All had type 1 diabetes; two-thirds had received at least three B.C.G. doses before the pandemic. The remaining third had received multiple placebo injections.
Scientists are still evaluating the long-term effects of the vaccine on type 1 diabetes itself. But they commissioned an independent group to look at Covid infections among the participants for 15 months, before any of them had received the Covid vaccines.
Although the trial was relatively small, " the results are as dramatic as the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines,” said Dr. Denise Faustman, lead study author and director of immunobiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
People with type 1 diabetes are particularly prone to infections. "We have seen a significant decrease in bladder infections, fewer flus and fewer colds, fewer respiratory tract infections and fewer sinus infections that diabetics get a lot," Dr. Faustman added.
The vaccine "appears to reset the host's immune response to be more alert, more primed, not as slow."
Another try of the B.C.G. of 300 older Greek adults, all of whom had health problems like heart or lung disease, found that the BCG vaccine reduced Covid-19 infections by two-thirds and also reduced rates of other respiratory infections.
>Only two people who received the vaccine were hospitalized with Covid-19, compared to six who received the placebo injections, according to the study published in July in Frontiers in Immunology.< /p>
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