Could the famous BCG preserve the health personnel of COVID-19?
While waiting for a specific vaccine to be developed, several trials evaluate
the protective effects of the antigen against tuberculosis, while Spain tests a
new product.
"We have known for decades that BCG has non-specific
beneficial effects," that is, that it protects against other diseases
besides tuberculosis, explains Camille Locht, a microbiologist and director of
research at the Pasteur Institute, to AFP.
The BCG vaccine protects children from respiratory diseases
and is also used to treat some types of bladder cancer and is believed to work
against asthma and autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes.
The hypothesis is that this vaccine could have a similar
effect against the coronavirus, either reducing the risk of being infected or
limiting the severity of symptoms.
Healthcare personnel are the “main group that could benefit”
from this potential application, since they are among the groups most at risk
and protecting them is essential, according to Locht, about to finalize the
protocol of a clinical trial in France.
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