Has anyone gotten the tuberculosis vaccine?

[Impulse]

Tuberculosis is very prevalent in southeast asia and Thailand.When I went to the hospital last time I was there the doc told me that 25% of the population have been exposed to the bacterium.I slept with a boy who had active tb,luckily for me when I was tested for it here it came back negative.I should have known this boy was sick because of his bad cough and weight loss and a small tatoo like mark on his shoulder. Anyway to treat tb you need to take about 4 different antibiotics for at least six months,to get rid of latent tb.If its active you may need more and for a longer time.There is a vaccine called the bcg vaccine and its not available in the U.S because tb is not too common and its only really effective in children.Its available here in Thailand because of the prevalenc.the other downside to it,besides its inefectivness,is that you will always test positive for tb once you get the vaccine.just wondering if anyone else is concerned about the tb or have gotten the vaccine.

... and really for anyone wishing to know such things as risks of terrorism, visa requirements, sustainable tourism, we have the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website. Under the 'Health' section for Thailand it advises about such things as bacteria infected bamboo shoots from the Ban Luang district, dengue fever, HIV transmission and avian flu but has no mention of TB. Perhaps this is an ommission but by visiting your local GP (Doctor) or more likely a health advisor or nurse prior to any trips abroad, you can get all the shots you need. I did this over two years ago and was fully loaded with every type of vaccination known to man and most shots last 10 years or more. The info' relating to Thailand is at:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pag ... 3618386505 (http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket%2FXcelerate%2FShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029390590&a=KCountryAdvice&aid=1013618386505)

Search out such information on any country you wish to visit (Click on the the list of countries in the drop down menu) at:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pag ... 7029390590 (http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029390590)

[wowpow]

"Our results have implications for designing both TB vaccines and vaccination campaigns. Highly effective vaccines will be needed to have the public health impact that we have shown (i.e., to reduce the TB death rate by one third). Whether or not the vaccines currently in development will afford this level of efficacy remains to be seen. Moreover, vaccines will need to provide very long-lasting immunity; our current analysis examines the effect of fairly long-lasting vaccines (10тАУ30 years average duration of immunity). Different types of vaccines have different durations of immunity. For example, DNA vaccines should provide lifelong immunity, whereas subunit vaccines will likely require booster vaccinations (28), an approach that would be more logistically difficult and expensive. Also, we have shown that preexposure vaccines are best if they prevent infection (mechanism 1) rather than allow infection but reduce the probability of fast progression to disease (mechanism 2) or reduce the rate of progression of latently infections to disease (mechanism 3). Whether or not new TB vaccines will prevent infection from occurring is not known, but BCG is clearly not able to prevent infection, and vaccines currently in development will likely not be able to do so either (29). As new TB vaccines and other control strategies become available, their potential benefits to TB control efforts can be evaluated by mathematical modeling. Mathematical models can be used as health policy tools to evaluate strategies for controlling TB (30тАУ35); mathematical models also provide insights for predicting the potential public health impact of imperfect HIV vaccines (36тАУ39). Our results show that, because of the complex pathogenic process of TB, high-incidence epidemics are unlikely to be substantially reduced by widely deploying highly effective preexposure or postexposure vaccines. We suggest that to achieve global control of TB, developing a single TB vaccine that functions as both a pre- and a postexposure vaccine is necessary."

http://www.cdc.gov/

They don't seem to know about this BCG new vaccine though.

I took advice after my boyfriend developed TB. I was not with him when he went through the initial phase of dramatic weight loss and a very bad cough combined with a high fever. By the time I spent time with him he had started treatment and was symptom free. I was advised that the chances of me catching TB from him were very low indeed and I didn't have the inoculation.

He got the all clear after 9 months on a combination of three drugs.

[Impulse]

while on the subject of vaccines.There is a new vaccine for hpv virus,the one that causes warts.The hpv virus causes cervical cancer in women and anal cancer in gay men.right now its only available for women but Im thinking of asking my doc if I can get it.I wonder why Merk isnt advising this vaccine for men.

There is a new vaccine for hpv virus,the one that causes warts....I wonder why Merk isnt advising this vaccine for men.

Sorry to further hijack this TB thread, but here's the answer to Rocket's question about the HPV vaccine. From the CDC (US):

"We do not yet know if the vaccine is effective in boys or men. It is possible that vaccinating males will have health benefits for them by preventing genital warts and rare cancers, such as penile and anal cancer. It is also possible that vaccinating boys/men will have indirect health benefits for girls/women. Studies are now being done to find out if the vaccine works to prevent HPV infection and disease in males. When more information is available, this vaccine may be licensed and recommended for boys/men as well. Currently, the vaccine is licensed only for use in females ages 9 to 26."

... only works apparently before one is sexually active, for women anyway, and is being geared to be used at younger women/girls

[UncleSam]

The BCG vaccine [ against TB] should be considered only for very select persons who meet specific criteria and in consultation with a TB expert.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/pubs/tbfac ... 250120.htm (http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/250120.htm)

The BCG vaccine [ against TB] should be considered only for very select persons who meet specific criteria and in consultation with a TB expert.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/pubs/tbfac ... 250120.htm (http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/pubs/tbfactsheets/250120.htm)

When I was at school all the kids had it, unless you were immune, which they tested by using a six pin type needle in your forearm and if there was a reaction to it then you were immune.