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B.C.G. Vaccination of School Children
In November 1954, the Area Committee agreed to a scheme for giving
B.C.G. vaccination to thirteen year old school children and the Divisional
Executives of Hornsey and Tottenham subsequently agreed to
the scheme being carried out in the schools. Detailed preparation of
the scheme and the purchase of the necessary equipment is now in hand
and vaccinations will be started soon after Easter, 1955.
Bacille-Calmette-Guerin, better known as B.C.G., is a living organism
related to the tubercle bacillus which can be injected into the skin without
causing tuberculosis and after a few weeks it produces a reaction, so
that the body tissues become sensitive to the toxin of the tubercle
bacillus. This special sensitivity is revealed by the fact that the tuberculin
reaction (Mantoux) is changed from negative to positive in four
to six weeks after administration of B.C.G.
Experience in other countries has shown that a person is less likely
to develop clinical tuberculosis if his Mantoux tuberculin reaction has
been converted from negative to positive, though this changed reaction
does not necessarily imply immunity from tuberculosis. In practice
B.C.G. does provide a considerable degree of safeguard against tuberculosis
and the protection can last for approximately six years. By
vaccinating with B.C.G. children aged thirteen may obtain a degree of
'protection during the period of adolescence when most vulnerable to
pulmonary tuberculosis.
B.C.G. has been used in this country during recent years for exposed
susceptible groups of people such as nurses, medical students, and
family contacts of infectious tuberculosis cases. Also in selected areas,
including Tottenham, B.C.G. has been given during the last three years
to school leavers in a trial survey conducted by the Medical Research
Council.
The B.C.G. is administered by injection of one drop into the skin
to children who are Mantoux negative. It is estimated that in this Area
about 30% of thirteen years olds will be Mantoux Positive which means
that such children will already have had a very mild infection of tuberculosis
sufficient in most cases to give them protection against the disease.
Children who are strongly Mantoux Positive will have an X-ray of the
chest to exclude the presence of the disease.
There are two stages in the accepted procedure. First, a skin test to
see if B.C.G. vaccination is necessary. Secondly, the actual vaccination
when an injection is made into the skin.
There are about 2,400 children aged thirteen attending schools in
Tottenham and Hornsey, and on the assumption that 75% of parents
will accept vaccination with B.C.G., some 1,800 children will have to
be skin-tested and of these approximately 1,200 may need B.C.G.
Parents will be given an explanatory leaflet, general practitioners will
be informed and a short time before the vaccinating team visits a school
the parents will be invited to sign a consent form.
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