The first injection after the birth of a small baby is usually the BCG vaccine. It is generally believed that this shot is given to prevent tuberculosis. This is not the case. If you do a survey among patients diagnosed with TB at the TB Treatment Center of Hangzhou Hongkai Hospital, you will find that more than 50% of the patients had BCG vaccine as children. Why do you still get tuberculosis after vaccination? Xu Xudong, director of thoracic surgery, has a surprising statement: “BCG vaccine does not prevent tuberculosis.” BCG vaccine can reduce the incidence of tuberculosis meningitis Xu said that BCG vaccine is injected into the human body with mycobacterium tuberculosis that has degenerated in virulence, thus making the body immune. However, the vaccine prevents blood-borne tuberculosis and reduces the incidence of tuberculous meningitis, so that the destructive power of tuberculosis is limited to the local area and does not cause too much harm to the body. Director Xu said that an expert had done an animal test: two rats, one with BCG vaccine and one without. Then, the tuberculosis bacteria were injected into the two rats at the same time. As a result, the BCG-vaccinated rat looked more reactive and had local skin ulceration at the injection site, but the TB bacteria did not transfer to other parts of the body. The rat that had not been vaccinated did not look different at first, but in fact the TB bacilli spread silently in the body and eventually spread to the whole body and even the brain. Therefore, it is still necessary to get BCG vaccination. The key to preventing tuberculosis is to improve immunity Tuberculosis is listed as one of the major infectious diseases in China. Last year, the Ministry of Health announced the status of the national tuberculosis epidemic. The annual incidence of tuberculosis in China is about 1.3 million, accounting for 14.3 percent of the global incidence and ranking second in the world. Director Xu said, in fact, the infection rate of tuberculosis bacteria is very high, if a laboratory test is done, 50% of people should have been infected. It’s just that because of different body types, some people get infected and some don’t. The strength of immunity plays an important role because the immune system will destroy the tuberculosis bacillus immediately after it enters the body. In addition, TB bacilli are spread by droplets, so it is important to pay attention to large public places and public transportation that are confined, and it is best to wear a mask in places with high traffic and poor air circulation to avoid infection. Consider the possibility of tuberculosis if you have these symptoms In order to better prevent and identify tuberculosis, Director Xu recommends that you should go to the hospital early to rule out tuberculosis if you have coughing for more than 14 days, blood in the sputum, low fever, easy fatigue and weight loss. It is also important to pay attention to the isolation of TB patients in the family, otherwise they are likely to infect others, especially the elderly and children. However, there is no need to worry too much about tuberculosis. Currently, tuberculosis is treated with a combination of medical and surgical treatment, Chinese and Western medicine, and the cure rate is over 90%.