NEONATAL BCG VACCINATION IN IRELAND - EVIDENCE OF ITS EFFICACY IN THEPREVENTION OF CHILDHOOD TUBERCULOSIS

Data from the 1986 and 1991 National Tuberculosis Survey were used, to gether with the Census of Population for those years, to try and deter mine whether bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination policy had any influence on the reported incidence of tuberculosis in the Republic of Ireland. The age-specific incidence of tuberculosis for the country a s a whole and for local areas, was determined with respect to neonatal BCG vaccination. Based on these data, the reported incidence of tuber culosis in people aged 15 yrs or younger in areas without a policy of neonatal BCG was shown to be significantly higher compared to areas th at use neonatal BCG vaccination (p = 1.5x 10(-5) in 1986; and p = 1.0x 10(-7) for 1991). It was estimated that some 646 vaccinations needed t o be given to prevent one case of tuberculosis in 1986, and that the f igure for 1991 was 551 vaccinations. This evidence supports a policy o f continued neonatal bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccination in the popula tion of the Republic of Ireland at present.