02608nas a2200397   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001500055653002400070653001600094653001000110653001100120653001100131653001100142653000900153653001800162653002500180653003200205653002000237653001700257100001300274700001400287700001600301700001600317700001600333700001700349700001500366700001400381700001300395700001700408245011500425300001100540490000700551520163800558022001402196       1987                            d  c1987 Jun10aAdolescent10aAntigens, Bacterial10aBCG Vaccine10aChild10aFemale10aHumans10aKuwait10aMale10aMycobacterium10aMycobacterium leprae10aNontuberculous Mycobacteria10aTuberculin Test10aTuberculosis1 aBahr G M1 aChugh T D1 aBehbehani K1 aShaaban M A1 aAbdul-Aty M1 aAl Shimali B1 aSiddiqui Z1 aGabriel M1 aRook G A1 aStanford J L00aUnexpected findings amongst the skin test responses to mycobacteria of BCG vaccinated Kuwaiti school children.  a105-120 v683 a<p>A multiple skin test survey was carried out in Kuwait on 1200 school children aged 8-11 years, and on 1228 children aged 12-16 years. With only 15 exceptions, all these children had received vaccination with Japanese BCG just before they started school, 5 years and 9 years earlier respectively. Tuberculin positivity was almost 90% in both groups, with a mean response size of 8.7 mm. This was associated with remarkably high responsiveness to many of the other mycobacterial species investigated. Since this high reactivity was also to Mycobacterium ulcerans, a species most unlikely to be present in Kuwait, it is proposed that this might be due to responsiveness to group ii antigen which is present in all slow growing species. Only M. flavescens and M. rhodesiae amongst the fast growing species, were absent as sensitising organisms. After correction for the supposed reactivity to group ii antigen, M. avium B, M. gordonae, M. ulcerans and M. xenopi amongst the slow growing species, also appeared to be absent from the Kuwait environment. The species most commonly encountered were M. leprae, M. chitae, M. neoaurum, M. diernhoferi, and M. vaccae in this order. This was a remarkable finding for a country assumed to be poor in contact with environmental species, and known to have a very low prevalence of leprosy. As previously reported from Iran, but not confirmed in other places, there was a 95% correlation between responsiveness to Leprosin A and Vaccin. Amongst the slow growing species M. avium A, M. intracellulare, and M. kansasii appear to be frequent sensitising agents, in common with many other places.</p>  a0041-3879