Which organism is used for BCG vaccine?
BCG vaccine uses live attenuated organism Mycobacterium bovis originally isolated from cow tuberculosis lesion by Nocard 1902. Mycobacterium bovis is member of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex sharing 99.9 percent sequence identity with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, causing zoonotic tuberculosis in cattle transmitted via milk. Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin at Institut Pasteur Lille attempted to attenuate starting 1908 by serial subculture on glycerinated potato medium with bile to reduce growth clumping, 230 passages over 13 years ending 1921. Attenuation associated with deletion of genom
Ref: Calmette Guerin BCG M bovis origin; Kaufmann Nat Rev Immunol 2020 BCG; WHO BCG Position.
