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← Return to Vaccine against MAC?
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@bolso1 I was vaccinated against TB in 1974 or ’75 because I went to Nepal in the Peace Corps. The vaccination is not recorded in my little yellow international vaccination book, but I distinctly remember the process and being told that I might test positive for TB because of the vaccine. I have no scar, but I also have no scars from my smallpox vaccinations. In 2018, at age 70, I was diagnosed with focal bronchiectasis, nodules, and MAC after I coughed up blood while lap swimming. I have not been tested for MAC since. My only symptoms are coughing up minor sputum in the morning and occasional minor coughing during the day. (I've also had acid reflux for many years.)
I walk 2-3 miles nearly every day, and do other exercises. I stopped the lap swimming because that’s probably where I caught MAC. Until this year, we lived Michigan in summer and near Tucson in winter. This summer we sold our AZ home and are trying all year in Michigan. I love to “work” frequently on our 2 acres of woods and wetland, which I have been doing for 10 years while not wearing a mask. My only “treatment” is once/day nebulizing with 7% saline, which I started this past March because of this forum.
According to the nhs.uk: “The BCG vaccination is thought to protect up to 80% of people against the most severe forms of TB for at least 15 years, perhaps even up to 60 years.” Perhaps the old vaccine is the reason my MAC is not severe (??).
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I don't know whether the vaccine helps to explain the lesser severity of MAC in your case. However, I have kept investigating and found a couple of interesting references (pdfs attached). One reports the findings in Finland where universal BCG vaccination was stopped in 2006 (Kontturi A, Soini H, Ollgren J, Salo E. Increase in Childhood Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infections After Bacille Calmette-Guerin Coverage Drop: A Nationwide, Population-Based Retrospective Study, Finland, 1995-2016. Clin Infect Dis. 2018;67(8):1256–61), and the conclusions were "After infant BCG coverage in Finland decreased, childhood NTM infections increased drastically. As there is no other apparent cause for the increase, this indicates that BCG offers protection against childhood NTM disease. This observation adds to the understanding of childhood NTM epidemiology and might explain why the disease is emerging in some countries." The other paper is about a similar study in the Czech Republic (Trnka L, Dankova D, Svandova E. Six years’ experience with the discontinuation of BCG vaccination. 4. Protective effect of BCG vaccination against the Mycobacterium avium intracellulare complex. Tuber Lung Dis. 1994;75(5):348–52), in which the authors concluded "In non-BCG vaccinated children the incidence of lymphadenitis caused by M. avium complex was considerably higher than in vaccinated children. BCG cells possess antigenic determinants which confer protective immunity probably both against M. tuberculosis and against M. avium complex infections. It may thus be assumed that BCG vaccination protects both against pathogenic tubercle bacilli and M. avium complex. This should be taken into consideration before recommending discontinuation of mass BCG vaccination of newborns in areas with a high prevalence of M. avium complex infection."
Infections After Bacille Calmette-Guérin Coverage Drop A Nationwide, Population-Based Retrospective Study, Finland, 1995-2016 (Infections-After-Bacille-Calmette-Guerin-Coverage-Drop-A-Nationwide-Population-Based-Retrospective-Study-Finland-1995–2016.pdf)
Six years' experience with the discontinuation of BCG vaccination (Six-years-experience-with-the-discontinuation-of-BCG-vaccination.pdf)