AN EPIDEMIC OF COMPLICATIONS OF BCG VACCINATION

A total of 633 patients presented with adverse effects of BCG vaccine in different health facilities in Khartoum within a period of five months. This coincided with the introduction of two new strains of the vaccine (Pasteur and Connaught). 557(89°/o) of the cases were infants under nine months, 79 % of whom were vaccinated within the first three months of age. The adverse effects developed as early as one week following inoculation. 601(95%) and 147(23%) of the cases presented with adenitis and undue vaccination lesion, respectively. There was one case of disseminated BCGitis who survived, but another one died. Change of the vaccine strains may be responsible for the outbreak:. 4