I want to share an interesting and recent paper (attached) that concludes that BCG-vaccination induces non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) cross-reactive immunity, and has the potential for use as a vaccine or immunotherapy to prevent and/or treat pulmonary NTM disease.
Also, in the Introduction, the authors stated: "In North America, the incidence of pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is higher than the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) (1). In addition, the prevalence of multiple NTM infections and the mortality rates associated with NTM infections are increasing (2–5). A study of Medicare part B beneficiaries showed that the prevalence of NTM increased from 20 to 47 per 100,000 persons between 1997 and 2007, an increase of 8.2% per year (2). A more recent report estimated that the number of pulmonary NTM cases in the US increased by at least another two-fold between 2010 and 2014 (5). The causes for these increases in prevalence of pulmonary NTM are not known."