A FIELD trial of freeze-dried glutamate BCG vaccine; preliminary report.

A field trial of dried BCG vaccine prepared with sodium glutamate as adjuvant was carried out by the WHO/UNICEF Tuberculosis Survey Team for West Africa in Ilorin, Nigeria, in April 1956. This trial-the first of a series of studies being undertaken jointly by the WHO Tuberculosis Research Office and the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association-was designed to test the heat-stability of the new dried vaccine.The allergenic potency six months after vaccination of two different lots of glutamate vaccine stored under various temperature conditions was compared with that of a batch of fresh liquid vaccine stored at 2-4 degrees C. The results showed both lots of dried vaccine to be remarkably heat-stable: even after 30 days' exposure to tropical temperatures, no marked loss of allergenic potency was observed.