Randomized, Controlled Trial Comparing Efficacy of Percutaneous and Intradermal Vaccination With Japanese (Tokyo) 172 BCG in the Prevention of Tuberculosis In Infants Vaccinated at Birth

This is an open label, randomized, controlled, equivalency trial to compare the efficacy of the percutaneous route of administration with the intradermal route of administration of Japanese (Tokyo) 172 BCG, obtained from the BCG laboratory in Tokyo, Japan, in the prevention of tuberculosis, with bacteriological or histological confirmation, or meeting strict clinical criteria, during the first two years of life. The comparison of the two methods is necessary because the intradermal method is almost universally preferred, without direct evidence from a clinical trial. The intradermal method provides for more accurate dosing and produces a higher rate of tuberculin skin test conversion, but neither of these factors has been shown to correlate with efficacy of BCG vaccination. The percutaneous method is much simpler and, if shown to be equally effective, could become a preferred method. The Japanese strain was chosen because it is the one commercially available strain produced for both intradermal and percutaneous administration, and because a seed lot from this strain was previously used to produce BCG for the South African BCG vaccination program.