Outwitting TB: Enhanced vaccine protects mice in lab tests

The best vaccine against tuberculosis is also the only vaccine against tuberculosis, and it’s not a great one at that. Called BCG, it protects many children, but it fails miserably in shielding adults.

By genetically modifying the weakened bacterium that makes up BCG, European scientists working with mice have developed a vaccine that seems to offer better protection than BCG does.