[BCG vaccination: where are we now?].

The bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine is administered and recommended for the prevention and control of tuberculosis in developing countries with high-risk settings. A new general BCG vaccination programme against tuberculosis has been introduced since 1997 in Turkey. The aim of this study was to evaluate the BCG vaccination status in Duzce and to analyze contributing factors for the vaccination programme. BCG screening were performed in 1100 8th class students from nine primary schools of Duzce city centre and seven counties. BCG scar presence was taken as authoritative for vaccination status. BCG vaccination ratio was 0.94. Of 1100 students, 1030 had BCG scars; 478 had single scar, 536 had two scars and 16 had three scars. The significant negative correlation was observed between the BCG administration ratio and the number of children under age of 15 per health personnel (r= -0.771, p= 0.025). Furthermore, based on some published studies marked regional variation of BCG vaccination status in Turkey was also discussed in this article.