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Nature Medicine 9, 503 - 504 (2003)
Published online: 14 April 2003 | doi:10.1038/nm868

Building a better tuberculosis vaccine

Douglas B. Young1

  1. Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection Imperial College London, UK e-mail: d.young@imperial.ac.uk


Restoration of genes lost during the original attenuation of the commonly used BCG tuberculosis vaccine enhances the ability of a recombinant strain to protect against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.


The immune response to tuberculosis is often described as a 'double-edged sword', as it protects the host against disease but also assists the pathogen by causing the tissue damage required for effective transmission. The notion of a double-edged sword has attractive poetic resonance but is less than satisfactory as a conceptual platform for the rational design of improved vaccines and immunodiagnostic reagents.

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