PREVENTION OF TUBERCULOSIS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19616, 21 October 1925, Page 11

PREVENTION OF TUBERCULOSIS.

IMPORTANT DISCOVERY

PROFESSOR CALOTTE'S VACCINE. (Fhom Our Own Corhespondent.) LONDON, September 3. A vaccine which, it is hoped, will prevent children of tuberculous parents from developing' consumption is being- tested in Paris with highly successful results. It is the discovery of Professor Calmette, who bas been working for years on the subject. Details of the vaccine are given in the current: issue of the British Medical Journal. "The results so, far obtained with the vaccine have been most promising," says the Journal. "In' the first six months of 3922, 178 infants born of tuberculous parents were vaccinated, and in the three years which have since elapsed not one of these has died of tuberculosis, though 15 have died from other causes. Apart from tuberculosis, the general mortality of the 178 children has been 8.4 per cent., a figure considerably lower than the infant mortality of other children in France. "During the past 12 months 2070 nowborn children have received this vaccine in Paris and other parts of France and Belgium. Up to Juno 1, 1925, Professor Calmette has boon able to trace 423 of these infants vaccinated at least six months previously, and none of them had died of a tuberculous infection. These facts are noteworthy in view of the heavy toll which tuberculosis ordinarily exacts from the offspring of tuberculous parents. "Professor Calmette modestly states that the- only conclusion which can be drawn is that the vaccine may be safely used for the prevention of human and animal tuberculosis." The articlo states that veterinary surgeons in England ore testing the vaccine, which is known as "8.C.G." in France. Professor Calmette has recently made a communication to the Aoadomie de Medecine. The 'British Medical Journal' adds that 'the communication encourages a hope that the objective of many years' study is within sight, even if it has not already been reached."