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 needle needle-oriented culture methods. The application of inoculation needles focuses on the inoculation and isolation of very defined regions of the cultures and the requirements of least disturbance between two closely crowded microbial colonies. It can also be used in harpooning under a low magnification microscope. Streaking on streak plates, fish tail inoculation of slant cultures and the inoculation of stab cultures can be done with the inoculation needle. Stab cultures specifically require the inoculation needle and is used to study cell motility, microbial oxygen requirements using Thioglycolate cultures, and the gelatin liquefaction of bacteria. The inoculation needle is sterilized using