Risk of tuberculosis infection and tuberculous meningitis after discontinuation of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin in Beijing

In Beijing, the notification rate of smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) has been below 20 per 100,000 since 1986, and continues to decline. To accurately measure the risk of TB infection in a population in which the results of tuberculin skin testing were not confounded by vaccination with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG), BCG vaccination at birth was discontinued from 1988 in Shun-yi County. In 1995, the prevalence of TB infection among 12,836 primary school children aged 6 to 7 yr and without BCG scars was 1.4%, giving an estimated annual risk of infection of 0.19% (95% confidence interval: 0.16 to 0.22%). The prevalence of TB infection in children aged 5 to 9 yr in Beijing in 1950 was 46%. The number of cases of tuberculous meningitis did not increase after discontinuation of BCG. We conclude that discontinuation of BCG had no detectable harmful effects, and that control of TB in Beijing has markedly reduced the prevalence of TB infection since 1950.