DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i04.013

Pages: 1674-1679

Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem in developing countries including India. Although investigations pertaining to TB vaccines are resurging, immunization against TB is limited to the BCG vaccine. Because sputum production and the Paucibacillary status in children remain the limiting factors to use the gold standard of microscopy for AFB for diagnosis of Tuberculosis. Aim of the study was to evaluate the Tuberculin test conversion with the progression of the BCG vaccination given at birth into scar at 3 month of age. This Prospective study was conducted over a period of 2 years on 100 Newborns. All newborns received 0.1ml of the BCG vaccine as per standard protocol on BCG administration. The infants were reviewed at 6 weeks and 3 months of age for Tuberculin testing. The presence of BCG scar was noted and correlated with tuberculin sensitivity. The study showed Tuberculin skin test reactivity in all 100 infants at 6 weeks but did not show positive conversion and at 3 months Tuberculin test conversion was 54%. The most common BCG reaction observed at 6 weeks following BCG vaccination was an ulcer. There was a positive correlation between birthweight and rate of tuberculin reaction i.e. with increasing birth weight the rate of Tuberculin reaction was also increasing. This study shows that Tuberculin skin test is a good screening test for BCG vaccination status and correlated with scar of BCG.