BCG vaccine, yes or no?

[howardcoombs]

HC, acutally, our pediatrican (local doctor here in HK) did tell us that the probability of TB transmission from one person to another depends on several factors, including the amount of infectious material expelled by a carrier (who must have active TB to be contagous), the proximity of the carrier to another person, the effectiveness of ventilation in the area, the duration of exposure, the health of the potentially exposed person and the virulence of the TB strain. He also told us that living in a less densly populated area of HK DOES decrease the liklihood of coming into close contact with an active carrier of the disease and thus decreases liklihood of infection. This is why I suggest that the mother should speak with her own doctors, to weigh the risks and benefits of getting/ not getting the vaccine as there really are factors that can be considered.

All correct and no disagreement with any of the points you have made there. Your pediatrician gave you factual informtaion. I wonder, did this doctor actually tell you what s/he recommended? What did doctor do with his/her kids?

Consider this : Busses, Minibusses, School Busses, trams, visit Ocean Park, visit Disney, go to School, go to Computer store, go to friends house, kiss a friend, lick a friend, lick some toys, lick the dog....

This is a disease that kills. Its not worth taking chances with it for the sake of convenience, saving a bit of money, saving a bit of pain or saving false-positive hassles if/when someone goes back to USA.

Its a proven vaccine thats been available for decades with very minor drawbacks and issues.

The choice should be obvious.

PS: I've never licked a dog but I cant say the same for all of my kids.

 

[elle]

All correct and no disagreement with any of the points you have made there. Your pediatrician gave you factual informtaion. I wonder, did this doctor actually tell you what s/he recommended? What did doctor do with his/her kids?

Consider this : Busses, Minibusses, School Busses, trams, visit Ocean Park, visit Disney, go to School, go to Computer store, go to friends house, kiss a friend, lick a friend, lick some toys, lick the dog....

Doctor recommended not getting it if we were returning to the US within 12 months and kid would not be using public transport and we would continue to live in the part of HK we live in. In fact, doctor intervened at hospital and kept the staff doctor from giving it to kid at birth. (BTW I'm not saying that our child does not have the vaccine, just that our doctor here did give us a full list of pros and cons and gave us as parents a choice)

 

[miran]

HC - to be fair TB can be treated. It's not as if parents are signing up their kids for death row. It's an informed decision. Almost all diseases can kill if not treated in time and correctly.

And before you start screaming at me - am not against BCG vaccination

 

[howardcoombs]

I'm glad to hear you chose to vaccinate.

I would strongly question the ethics and mental-health of a doctor who would recommend a kid be left without vaccination for 12 months in an environment known to have a specific deadly disease.

 

[howardcoombs]

HC - to be fair TB can be treated. It's not as if parents are signing up their kids for death row. It's an informed decision. Almost all diseases can kill if not treated in time and correctly.
And before you start screaming at me - am not against BCG vaccination

Me, scream, never. Would I do such a thing

Ofcourse it can be treated, but why take the chance when the consequences can be so deadly, the side effect practically none and the disease so prevalent in Asia.

I take a lot of calculated risks with myself as well as my family; on health related matters such as vaccinations, I just wouldnt.

 

[carang]

restaurants, lifts/elevators, shopping centres, cinemas, hotels (anyone remember SARS?)...

i live out in the country park, you can't get less densely populated than that in hk.... there is no way i wouldn't get my kids vaccinated, even though i'm originally from canada, where it isn't amongst the vaccs that we get/give....i don't live in canada. i live here. we travel here and to china, vietnam, thailand, philippines, malaysia etc....

 

[AmyH]

My daughter was born here, so had it at birth. My son was given it at aged 4 when we moved here. I took him to a paediatrician who did the skin test to see if he was already immune, before giving the vaccine (he wasn't). It's not something i would ever risk.

Both my grandparents contracted it in Ireland when my dad was a child (50 years ago) and they spent over a year in the hospital getting treated. During that time my dad and his brothers and sisters were sent to a childrens home to be looked after by nuns. My grandfather had to have a lung removed so spent most of his adult life with just one lung.

 

[miran]

IMHO - It's cultural. For the longest time richer countries have beleived they are immune from "those" things. Lot of people still do - look at the state of US / Europe economies and look at what their news coverage is.

I am for BCG vacs too. why only BCG... we are from India. We go to India once a year for 20 - 25 days. We drink safe water and we hardly get time to go for a swim. My son still got his Hep A and Typhoid vacs.

You and I are reacting with disbeleif because we "know" or have seen people from any walk of life get such diseases. We have also "known" or seen the impact such diseases can have. We find it hard to fanthom that someone could have access to such vaccinations, could afford them and still wouldnt take them because they think that risk is low.

5 - 10% US population has TB (either as carrier or in active stage) - this is from Wiki so please dont kill me on this. If I read that and I were in US, I would still get BCG.

HC - all I am saying is I hear you and I am with you. But when you come out so strongly at someone it just gets discounted as hysteria. And do cut those parents some slack - they are really not killing their kids

 

[evgreen]

Here is another very useful link about the stats of TB in HK. The rate of infection here is 10 times higher than in most Western developed countries. I've talked to a couple of pediatricians in HK and they both highly recommend BCG as the benefits far outweigh the risks.

http://www.info.gov.hk/tb_chest/contents/c122.htm

 

[mumsy]

TB is definitely not to be taken lightly and it may not be just a simple case of taking a course of medication for 6-12 months to cure it.

I contracted TB myself as a 7/8year old whilst visiting Hong Kong on a 2 week holiday back in the 1980's (granted TB was more prevalent back then). I did not present any of the classic symptoms of TB at all upon my return to the UK, then a few months later I had a swollen itchy finger - the TB had spread to my finger bone/joint. To cut a long story short, I had 2 surgeries on my finger and ended up having a piece of bone removed (at one point, the doctors even considered amputating the whole finger). I was in and out of hospital for well over 6 months.