Worldwide, more people die from tuberculosis (TB) than any other infectious disease, even though the vast majority were vaccinated. The vaccine just isn't that reliable. But a new Nature study finds that simply changing the way the vaccine is administered could dramatically boost its protective power. The team tested several routes and doses of the only commercially available human TB vaccine, Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), which is made of a live, weakened form of TB bacteria found in cattle.
The BCG vaccine has been around for 100 years and is among the most widely used vaccines in the world, but its efficacy varies widely. The idea for an intravenous TB vaccination came from earlier experiments by the other senior author on the study, Robert Seder, M.D., at the NIAID's Vaccine Research Center. Seder showed in both animals and humans that the malaria vaccine is more effective when…
