STUDIES ON THE CHANGE OF TUBERCULIN REACTION REPEATEDLY EXAMINED AT THE SAME SITE OF THE SKIN OF A BCG VACCINATED GROUP OF SCHOOL CHILDREN : 2. RESULTS OBTAINED 6 AND 12 MONTHS AFTER BCG VACCINATION, ESPECIALLY "L" REACTION

Abstract

Continued from the previous report, tuberculin reaction was examined 6 and 12 months after BCG vaccination (the second and the third repetition at the repeated site, respectively). 1) Accelerated and augmented reaction was also remarkably observed in the second and the third repetition. 2) In the second repetition the grade of acceleration and augmentation became stronger than the first repetition. Subsequent process is now under investigation. 3) The positive rate in redness was lower but the induration rate was conversely higher about 20% at the new site than at the repeated site on and after the second repetition. 4) The reaction of which color tone was not fresh red as had formerly been seen but differently colored (for example, livid red, pale brown or only pigmentated and so on) and the margin of the reacted area was not discernible from the unreacted area was named as "L" reaction. The appearance rate of "L" reaction increased rapidly at the second repetition compared to the first and more than 90% of the reaction had "L" color tone. 5) It may be considered that "L" reaction is specific and related to the acceleration in reaction in consequence of the repetition of the tuberculin reaction; that is, "L" color tone appears just before the tuberculin reaction decreases and then disappears with lapse of time and at the repeated site it is observed as early as at 48 hours because the accelerated tuberculin reaction disappears faster. Accordingly, the reactions in which "L" color tone is observed at 48 hours are generally weak, but "L" color tone itself is not essentially related to the intensity of the reaction.