BCG vaccine immunity against human tuberculosis. The BCG vaccine can be anywhere from 0 to 80% effective in preventing tuberculosis for a duration of 15 years; however, its protective effect appears to vary according to geography and the lab in which the vaccine strain was grown. A number of different companies make BCG, sometimes using different genetic strains of the bacterium. This may result in different product characteristics. OncoTICE, used for bladder instillation for bladder cancer, was developed by Organon Laboratories (since acquired by Schering-Plough, and in turn acquired by Merck & Co.). Pacis BCG, made from the Montréal (Institut Armand-Frappier) strain,
Inoculation loop inferior but less expensive. This loop removes a consistent amount of the liquid suspended inoculum by using the phenomenon of surface tension. The inoculation loop is sterilized (even automatically) with flame (or another heat source) before and after each use. By doing this, the same tool can be reused in different experiments without fear of cross-contamination. After flame sterilization, the loop must be cooled so that the next cells the loop touches are not killed by the hot metal. Inoculation loop An inoculation loop, also called a smear loop, inoculation wand or microstreaker, is a simple tool used mainly by