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MONDAY, July 13, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
A tuberculosis<\/a> vaccine<\/a> may help reduce the risk of death from COVID-19<\/a>, researchers suggest.<\/p>\n Developing countries have lower-than-expected COVID-19<\/a> death rates, and a TB<\/a> vaccine<\/a> given in countries with high rates of tuberculosis<\/a> might play a significant role in reducing COVID-19<\/a> death rates, according to authors of a new study.<\/p>\n The vaccine, which is routinely given to children in countries where TB<\/a> infection is common, is called Bacille Calmette-Gu\u00e9rin, or BCG for short. It is not widely used in the United States.<\/p>\n “In our initial research, we found that countries with high rates of BCG vaccinations<\/a> had lower rates of mortality,” said Luis Escobar, an assistant professor in the College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech.<\/p>\n “But all countries are different: Guatemala has a younger population than, say, Italy, so we had to make adjustments to the data to accommodate those differences,” he said in a university news release.<\/p>\n For the study, Escobar and colleagues at the U.S. National Institutes of Health collected COVID-19<\/a> death data from around the world.<\/p>\n They adjusted for variables such as income, access to education and health services, population and age distribution. Through all of the variables, there was a persistent link between higher rates of BCG vaccination and lower peak COVID-19<\/a> death rates.<\/p>\n “The purpose of using the BCG vaccine to protect from severe COVID-19<\/a> would be to stimulate a broad, innate, rapid-response immunity,” Escobar said.<\/p>\n BCG vaccines<\/a> have been shown to provide broad protection for several viral respiratory illnesses in addition to tuberculosis<\/a>, he noted.<\/p>\n The findings are preliminary and did not prove cause and effect. More research is needed, Escobar stressed.<\/p>\n “We’re not looking to advise policy with this paper,” Escobar said. “This is, instead, a call for more research. We need to see if we can replicate this in experiments and, potentially, in clinical trials<\/a>. We also need to come back to the data as we get more information, so we can reevaluate our understanding of the coronavirus pandemic.”<\/p>\n The World Health Organization said there is no current evidence that the BCG vaccine can protect against COVID-19, and it is not recommended for that purpose.<\/p>\n Clinical trials<\/a> are underway to determine whether BCG vaccination in adults provides protection from severe COVID-19.<\/p>\n The study was published July 9 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/i>.<\/p>\n — Robert Preidt<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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