survey of tuberculin test after BCG vaccination in children

A total of 595 children were tested for tuberculin sensitivity after BCG vaccination. These included 165 for tuberculin conversion and 430 for persistence of tuberculin sensitivity. The tuberculin conversion rate which was tested in children who had been given BCG not more than one year earlier was 87.9%. However, when tuberculin sensitivity was tested in children who had been given BCG two, three, four five years earlier, the tuberculin reactor rate was 66.3%, 47.9%, 34.1% and 19% respectively giving the impression of vanishing sensitivity with the passage of time after BCG vaccination. A longitudinal study is needed to confirm this finding