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 to re-infection. In 1798, the English surgeon/scientist Edward Jenner published the results of his experiments and thus introduced the far superior and safer method of inoculation with cowpox virus, a mild infection that also induced immunity to smallpox. Jenner was not the first person to inoculate with cowpox nor the first to realize that infection with cowpox gave immunity to smallpox. However, he was the first to publish evidence that it was effective and to provide advice on its production. His efforts led to smallpox inoculation falling into disuse and eventually being banned in England in 1840. Inoculation The terms