TB Vaccine effective in HIV+ with BCG history

This study, to be published in an upcoming issue of AIDS, tested the effect of an inactivated whole cell mycobacterial vaccine, Mycobacterium vaccae, in HIV+ (CD4+>200) outpatients in Tanzania who also had a history of childhood BCG vaccination. Ford von Reyn and his Dartmouth and Tanzanian colleagues completed a double-blind placebo controlled trial testing the effect of 5 intradermal injections on subsequent disseminated and definite TB. Vaccinated patients had reduced disseminated TB (HR=0.52, p = 0.16), and definite tuberculosis (HR=0.61, p = 0.03). The study was stopped early do to significant protective effect but it prevented the assessment of longer-term effects.