CHANDIGARH, NOV 21: Though many different vaccines have been tried for the prevention of tuberculosis, the ideal vaccine is yet to come in the market. This was stated by Dr V.M. Katoch from JALMA, Agra, on the concluding day of the XXIII National Conference of Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists."The efficacy of BCG, found highly effective in rest of the world, has not been found to be effective in Indian adults. But because of its role in preventing tuberculosis of the meningitis, disseminated and glandular varieties, particularly in children, this vaccine should continue to be a part of routine immunisation till better alternatives are available," said Dr Katoch, while speaking in the symposium Vaccine: The Indian Perspective".Dr S.N.Saxena, former director, Central Research Institute, Kasauli, talked about the genesis of the Expanded Immunisation Programme (EPI) proposed by the WHO and implemented by India. "Though incidence of the diseases covered by EPI like tuberculosis, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio and measles have come down considerably, the coverage of the population vaccinated still remains to be less than optimal.Dr Pradeep Seth, of AIIMS, discussed the progress towards development of a vaccine for AIDS. He reiterated that there are many types and subtypes of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS. "The type that causes disease in the USA is different from the one in India. It is hence imperative that the vaccines being tried in the West will not be useful in our country. We have to take initiative in formulating vaccines targeted towards the types prevalent in this country," said Dr Seth while presenting his own research work towards understanding the basis of vaccine formulation in the Indian context.Dr Jacob John from Christian Medical College and Hospitals, Chennai, gave a presentation on the efficacy and drawbacks of routine immunisation in India. "The recommendations of the West for the immunisation schedule of polio may not be suitable for a country like India." where the polio virus shows a much higher property of transmissibility as compared to the Western countries," said Dr Jacob."At the present moment considering the low coverage of EPI and the properties of virus transmission dynamics and the susceptibility of the population, pulse polio drive is the only solution. But it be successful to bring down the disease incidence completely only if the number of pulses is four or more per year and the coverage exceeds 65 per cent of the susceptible population," he added.Other scientific deliberations included "Emerging fungal disease in HIV cases" by Dr Arvind Padhye from the Centre of Disease Control, Atlanta, a session on "Helicobacter pylori" by Dr A.Ayyagari from SGPGI, Lucknow, and a session on typhoid fever and the problems associated with it by Dr Ramesh Kumar.
