The Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine has been shown to provide considerable protection against miliary or meningeal tuberculosis (TB), but whether it prevents other forms of disease remains controversial. Recent evidence has shown that the BCG vaccine also provides protection against latent TB infection (LTBI). The aim of the current study was to examine whether BCG has a protective role against LTBI among children in close contact with an adult index case in a low TB endemicity setting with the use of the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube test (QFT-GIT). A cross-sectional study was conducted over a 10-year period among children referred to our outpatient TB clinic with a history of close contact with an adult with pulmonary TB. All subjects had a QFT-GIT performed. In total, 207 children > 5 to 16 years of age with known recent exposure were enrolled. BCG-vaccinated subjects had a 59% lower risk of presenting with LTBI after close contact with an adult index case compared with unvaccinated subjects (OR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.23-0.73, p = 0.002). After adjustment for possible confounders, the protective effect of prior BCG immunization was estimated at 68% (OR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.15-0.66, p = 0.002). Other risk factors for LTBI included a history of migration (OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.13-4.53, p = 0.021) and transmission of infection to other exposed child contacts (OR = 4.62, 95% CI: 2.27-9.39, p = 0.001). We were able to determine a strong protective role of BCG vaccination among children older than 5 years, immunized at school entry, who had close contact with an adult infectious TB case.
Keywords: BCG; children; contacts; latent TB infection; tuberculosis.