Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (B.C.G.)

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Abstract
A review and critical analysis of the method advocated by Calmette, which consists of feeding infants with living, avirulent cultures of tubercle bacilli (B. C. G.). The claim has been that the organism does not produce progressive tuberculosis, but possesses properties rendering man and animals immune to subsequent infection. The authors consider Calmette''s statistical data faulty and they do not agree that the organism is entirely innocuous. Repeated animal inoculations have shown that in the majority, tuberculous changes took place after inoculation but had a tendency to heal; in some instances progressive tuberculosis leading to death has been noted. The organs from such animals when passed through another series of normal guinea pigs produced generalized tuberculosis. After the organism was dissociated into "R" and "S" colonies, it was found that the "R" colony produced tuberculous changes which had a tendency to heal, while the "S" colony invariably produced extensive tuberculous lesions leading to death. There were also indications that the "R" colony could be transmuted into "S" by cultivation on anti-"R" serum media. The immunity established in guinea pigs with this organism was not greater than that obtained when animals were injected with heat-killed tubercle bacilli. It is concluded that this type of vaccination is not entirely free from danger and that more work must be done on a larger scale, especially in cattle, to confirm or refute Calmette''s claims.

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