Attempts to Produce an Experimental Phlyetenulosis with BCG.

Youn, Dong Ho

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 1977;18(4):291-295.
Published online April 1, 1977.

Attempts to Produce an Experimental Phlyetenulosis with BCG.

Dong Ho Youn

Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

BCG 접종에 의한 Phlyctenule 발생실험

윤동호 ( Dong Ho Yoon )

Abstract

There is general agreement that phlyctenular keratoconjunctivits is a manifestation of bacterial allergy, especially to products of the tubercle bacillus. Although the role of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to produce phlyctenules is well known, the exact mechanism of its production and the nature of involved immune reaction are not certain. Some previous reports informed that phlyctenular conjunctivitis occurred after BCG vaccination in the tuberculinnegative patient. This means that BCG vaccination changes immune balance and m!ly cause phlyctenule. The author attempted to produce phlyctenules in rabbits and guinea pigs in which BCG was used as the antigen to sensitize the animals systemically and PPD, living BCG and killed BCG were used as challenging agents. All but the animals which were injected with living and killed BCG subconjunctivally did not show any response. A primary tuberculosis lesion develo ped in the animals injected with living BCG and a pure abscess occured in the animals injected with killed BCG. It seems evident that the failure to produce phlyctenules in the BCG sensitized animals is ascribed to the relatively low order of sensitivity obtained as judged by the occurrence of primary tuberculosis.