TB vaccine 'may cause more harm than good' for HIV-infected infants

Babies already infected with HIV are being placed at a higher-than-average risk of contracting BCG disease through being given a standard TB vaccine, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.

At present, around thee quarters of all new-born babies across the world are given the bacille Calmette-Gu (BCG) vaccine in order to protect them from TB.

However, a new report published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation has revealed that recent research has found this vaccine places HIV-positive infants at a heightened risk of contracting BCG disease.

While on a global scale, BCG is one of the most widely-used and safest vaccines, the WHO's research, which was carried out by scientists at the Tygerberg Children's Hospital, the Red Cross Children's Hospital and the Groote Schuur Hospital, all in South Africa, concluded that the risk of harm may outweigh the potential benefits of the vaccine for immunocompromised infants.

As a result, the agency has advised that healthcare providers delay giving out vaccinations until an infant's HIV status is known.

According to the WHO figures, the fatality rate for children with BCG disease in South Africa currently stands at 70 per cent, compared with a background mortality rate among HIV-infected infants of 12.2 per cent.

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