can a person innoculated for BCG, and the usual normally administered ones catch TB as an adult?

Question

once you r innoculated for diptheria, BCG etc in childhood , i understand that you do not get infected for TB. An infection most likely could be something else like Bronchitis etc. Am i right?

Answer 1

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but even if you had the BCG vaccination, you may not be immune to TB and can still catch the infection. It is not highly likely, but it is a possibity. If you live in an area where there is a high rate of TB, or have had close daily contact with a person with active TB, you can still develop it. Most likely, a chest infection would be due to something else like bronchitis, but this would be a matter for the physician to decide. If you had a history of a BCG vaccination, it would not be the first thing they suspected. They would treat you with antibiotics and such, and if it did not respond properly, they would investigate further with a chext x-ray. TB is an extremely slow growing infection, and is easily treated in any case. It is not the death sentence it was in years gone by, so even if worst case and you were diagnosed with an active case of TB, you would be treated and survive to live a long life. Fortunately, in most parts of the world, TB is not nearly so common as it once was, though, and most coughs are just coughs. Irritating, but not life threatening.

Answer 2

The BCG vaccine is actually rather controversial and doesn't seem to work very well, which is why it is not widely used (and not really used at all in the US). You can still contract TB after getting it, though contracting TB is quite uncommon in the US and most respiratory infections are other things.

Answer 3

BCG gives protection against disseminated (widespread) tuberculosis only, and not against TB of the lungs. If you live in a place where TB is common, you can still get it.