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According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 3.5 million people worldwide are currently infected with the coronavirus (as of May 4). Scientists from all nations are feverishly searching for possible protective measures against the virus that triggers the life-threatening disease COVID-19.
Experts are currently following a new “working hypothesis,” as RKI chief Lothar Wieler called it: Could it be that makes a live TB vaccine more resistant to SARS-CoV-2, causing non-specific reactions of the immune system?
Low infection rates in East Germany
The hypothesis that a tuberculosis vaccine could mitigate an infection with the coronavirus is based on the numbers of infection in Germany:
In eastern Germany, there are currently fewer people infected with SARS-CoV-2 than in the rest of the country. According to the Robert Koch Institute, Bavaria in the south with almost 43,000 patients registered on COVID-19 is the state with the most cases of disease, while Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania of East Germany with 698 is the state with the fewest cases (from May 3).
The low infection rates in East Germany are due to several factors. This includes the lower population density in the east, and the fact that the people who live there are older on average and therefore less mobile. Travel less and spread the virus less quickly.
RKI President Lothar Wieler has now presented to the press another possible factor that scientists are currently investigating in more detail.
Corona and tuberculosis
Low infection rates in eastern Germany put scientists on the following path: In the old GDR, so-called BCG vaccines, that is, live tuberculosis vaccines, were required. As a result, this vaccine can now help the virus to spread less quickly in the east.
In BCG vaccines, tuberculosis pathogens are injected in a weakened way to prepare the immune system for possible tuberculosis infection. This leads to nonspecific reactions of the immune system, which can strengthen the human body against other pathogens, such as the coronavirus.
This vaccine has been considered unnecessary in Germany since the late 1990s because tuberculosis has become rare.
Several researchers, including the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, are currently gathering evidence to support the working hypothesis. Previous studies would have shown that BCG vaccines can prevent respiratory diseases Experts write in an article in the magazine “Lancet”.
Studies in the Netherlands
The evidence cited in “The Lancet” so far has only been used as evidence for the theory. No concrete evidence has yet been found of a link between corona vaccination and tuberculosis.
Holland is in April a study with 1,000 doctors and nurses where the subjects received a BCG vaccine or a placebo. The following should be noted how often employees of both groups are infected with the coronavirus.
At the same time, a second study is being carried out at the University Clinic in Utrecht. The focus is on 1,600 patients older than 60 years or older. The objective is to investigate whether the BCG vaccine can alleviate a potentially serious course of COVID-19.
Studies in this direction are also being carried out in Germany, England and Australia.
BCG vaccine: there is no miracle cure for the crown
All scientists investigating the new hypothesis emphasize that it is too early to call a live tuberculosis vaccine as a protective measure against the coronavirus. No one should go to the family doctor and request a BCG vaccine at this time.
The WHO attributes this, among other things, to the fact that the protective effect of the BCG vaccine has not been conclusively demonstrated and that the vaccine could create a false sense of security. Furthermore, a spontaneous increase in vaccines would lead to a shortage of supplies for the vaccine, so the studies could not continue on a regular basis.
Sources:
Panel COVID-19 of the Center for Science and Systems Engineering (CSSE) of Johns Hopkins University (JHU), in: coronavirus.jhu.edu
RKI Daily Management Report on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) May 3, 2020, at: rki.de
Considering BCG vaccine to reduce the impact of COVID-19, at: thelancet.com
Finding Covid-19 Protection: The TB Trick, at: spiegel.de
