Open AccessTuberculosis endemicity and BCG vaccination: Protection against COVID-19
Author(s) -
Tarun Krishna Boppana,
Saurabh Mittal,
Karan Madan,
Anant Mohan,
Vijay Hadda,
Randeep Guleria
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
monaldi archives for chest disease. pulmonary series/monaldi archives for chest disease/monaldi archives for chest disease. cardiac series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.196
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 2465-101X
pISSN - 1122-0643
DOI - 10.4081/monaldi.2022.2281
Subject(s) - incidence (geometry) , tuberculosis , medicine , vaccination , case fatality rate , population , bcg vaccine , covid-19 , immunology , disease , environmental health , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , physics , optics
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected different countries in a differential manner. The host susceptibility and host factors are important parameters for this variability. This study aimed to assess the effect of tuberculosis (TB) endemicity and Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) coverage on COVID-19. Available data regarding TB incidence, BCG coverage (as per the World Health Organization), and COVID-19 incidence of 168 countries as of 19th September 2021was collected. Countries were divided into four cohorts based upon annual TB incidence and BCG coverage and COVID-19 incidence and case fatality rates were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Countries with low TB incidence and low BCG coverage had the highest COVID-19 incidence per lac population. However, no significant difference was seen in COVID-19 cases fatality rate. Higher TB incidence and BCG coverage were associated with lesser incidence of COVID-19. This result paves the way for research into pathogenesis and host immune response in COVID-19.