Abstract
The records of 830 consecutive autopsies at Children's Hospital, Winnipeg revealed that 26 of the 36 infants (34 Canadian Indian, 1 Inuit and 1 Caucasian) given BCG vaccine shortly after birth had tuberculoid granulomas in various sites, including the vaccination site, regional lymph nodes, liver, spleen, lung, bone marrow and salivary gland. Mycobacterium bovis, BCG type, was identified in three of the four cases in which isolation was attempted. The principal causes of death had been sudden infant death syndrome and respiratory tract infections. None of the infants had histologic evidence of an immune deficiency. However, it is possible that in two cases the dissemination of BCG was enhanced by a temporary immunologic defect induced by malnutrition.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Dahlström G., Sjögren I. Side-effects of BCG vaccination. Bull Int Union Tuberc. 1976;51(1):247–250. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Freundlich E., Suprun H. Tuberculoid granulomata in the liver after BCG vaccination. Isr J Med Sci. 1969 Jan-Feb;5(1):108–113. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- GORMSEN H. On the occurrence of epitheloid cell granulomas in the organs of BCG-vaccinated human beings. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand Suppl. 1956;39(Suppl 111):117–120. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0463.1956.tb06761.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wallerström A., Enell H. Bacterial metastasis following B.C.G.-vaccination. Acta Paediatr Scand. 1966 Sep;55(5):517–523. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1966.tb15244.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- ten Dam H. G., Hitze K. L. Does BCG vaccination protect the newborn and young infants? Bull World Health Organ. 1980;58(1):37–41. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]