Tin Sokhavuth
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| The brain of a five-year-old girl who was affected by tuberculosis meningitis even though she was vaccinated against tuberculosis with BCG. Supplied |
A prominent pediatrician announced on Sunday that the use of the Bacille Calmette-Huerin (BCG) vaccination for tuberculosis was not only ineffective, but could prolong suffering for children with the disease.
Doctor Beat Richner, the founder of the Kantha Bopha Hospitals, took to Facebook on Sunday, stating a five-year-old girl had been admitted to hospital and had been found through an MRI scan that her brain had been affected by the disease, despite being vaccinated against it with BCG.
“This girl aged five years is suffering from most severe tuberculosis meningitis visible in the brain by the MRI. Unfortunately this child, as are thousands and thousands, was vaccinated against tuberculosis with BCG,” he wrote.
He also gave the example of a four-month-old child now at Jayavarman VII hospital in Siem Reap town, who had severe tuberculosis of the lungs even though she was vaccinated with BCG.
Another exampled he cited was a 14-year-old monk who suffered from back pain. When he was admitted to Kantha Bopha IV hospital in Phnom Penh, doctors found he had the disease in his vertebrate, after being vaccinated with BCG.
As a result, Dr. Richner declared BCG ineffective.
“Children being vaccinated with BCG are suffering from more severe forms of tuberculosis than children not being vaccinated by BCG,” he said.
Dr. Richner was appointed as an adviser to the Ministry of Health in March and has urged the ministry to order the World Health Organization (WHO) to halt the BCG method of vaccination.
Dr. Mao Tan Eam, director of the Tuberculosis Center of the Ministry of Health, told Khmer Times that he and other tuberculosis specialists were studying the pros and cons of the use of BCG and would announce their findings later this week.
“This issue is very technical. We have to discuss with doctors about the matter, including experts from the WHO,” he said.
“A meeting will be organized soon. Our ministry will make a decision to use or not to use the BCG for vaccination sometime this week.”
According to the WHO’s website, mycobacterium tuberculosis is the main cause of tuberculosis, causing deaths in many developing countries.
However, the WHO has noted emerging mycobacterial drug resistance, leading to the disease occurring in developed countries.
According to the WHO, BCG has been used to vaccinate against tuberculosis for more than 80 years and is effective against meningitis and disseminated tuberculosis in children. However, it does not prevent primary infection or reactivation of latent pulmonary infection, the principal source of the bacteria spreading in the community.
The WHO stated that a replacement vaccine had yet to be found to fight the disease, despite rigorous research.
“Recent advances in areas such as mycobacterial immunology and genomics have stimulated research on numerous new experimental vaccines, but it is unlikely that any of these urgently needed vaccines will be available for routine use within the next few years. In the meantime, optimal utilization of BCG is encouraged,” the WHO’s website states.
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