BCG: who were Calmette and Guerin?

In vitro infection of human cells with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

“…Nevertheless, the fact that 54% of the infected babies that suffered the disease recovered 4 , provided evidence that strongly supported the influence of genetics on the tuberculosis susceptibility. In addition, nearly 50% of individuals exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis never become tuberculin skin test positive 5 , which may indicate that the bacterium is removed by the innate immunity.…”

BCG Moreau Rio de Janeiro: an oral vaccine against tuberculosis - review

“…The vaccine Bacillus of Calmette Guérin (BCG), used in the prevention of tuberculosis, was developed by two researchers, Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin, as an attempt to obtain homogeneous suspensions (without clumping) in the cultures of a very virulent bacillus, Mycobacterium bovis, isolated by Nocard from a heifer with mastitis in 1902 (Sakula 1983), in the Pasteur Institute of Paris. In the Pasteur Institute of Lille, Calmette, accidentally obtained a mutated organism, after passages in vitro of the sample of M. bovis by cultivating the cultures in potatoes impregnated in ox bile, and Guérin, his assistant, observed, after 231 passages in vitro of the sample of M. bovis, during 13 years, alterations in the morphology of the colonies and gradual loss of virulence.…”

“…These cultures did not lose the clumped morphology, and they maintained the same physical properties and displayed continued immunogenicity in animal experiments, using chimpanzees, guinea pigs, mice, and cattle (Succi 1985). That sample of bacilli was baptized with the name BCG-Bacillus of Calmette and Guérin, and successfully used in the active immunization of cows, without producing disease (Sakula 1983).…”

“…The Pasteur Institute in Lille began to mass-produce the BCG vaccine for medical use. Between 1924 and1928, another 114,000 children were immunized without serious complications (Sakula 1983).…”

“…However, in Lubeck, Germany, in 1930, a serious accident happened that caused profound changes in vaccination with BCG; 250 children were supposedly vaccinated with BCG and 73 died from tuberculosis in the first year, while another 135 developed signs and symptoms of disease (Sakula 1983). Subsequent investigations revealed that a culture of M. tuberculosis, isolated from a sick child, was kept in the same incubator with the BCG and, during the vaccine preparation, the vaccine became contaminated and contained 1/3 of BCG and 2/3 of the tuberculous bacillus (MS 1994).…”