A topic in Clinical Evidence 1 summarizes the results of one large RCT performed in India. Four vaccines were compared to normal saline in 171 400 healthy people aged 1-65 years. The most effective vaccines were ICRC vaccine (RRR 65.5%, 95% CI 48.0% to 77.0%) and Calmette Guerin (BCG) plus killed M leprae (64.0%, 95% CI 50.4% to 73.9%), followed by BCG alone (34%, 95% CI 13.5% to 49.8%). The effect of Mycobacterium w vaccine was marginal (25.5%, 95% CI 1.9% to 43.8%). Three quasi-controlled trials in Uganda, Myanmar and Papua New Guinea found that BCG vaccine was more effective than placebo in reducing the incidence of lepra.
Primary/Secondary Keywords