{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T04:21:48Z","timestamp":1790742108775,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,9]],"date-time":"2025-01-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1736380800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,9]],"date-time":"2025-01-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1736380800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["The American Surgeon\u2122"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Today\u2019s controversies of gain-of-function virological research and mRNA COVID vaccination policies had an antecedent nearly a century ago in an event often referred to as \u201cthe L\u00fcbeck disaster.\u201d From April through September 1930, 77 newborn infants in L\u00fcbeck, Germany, died after receiving oral BCG immunizations tainted with active human\n                    <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Mycobacterium tuberculosis<\/jats:italic>\n                    . The tragedy threatened to end BCG immunizations. BCG and its originators, the French scientists Albert Calmette and Camille Gu\u00e9rin, were exonerated from liability. An inquest uncovered careless laboratory practices that contaminated doses of the vaccine with a human pathogen. The calamity underscored the necessity for exacting standards when handling dangerous infective microbes. The physician and bacteriologist responsible for the immunization program in L\u00fcbeck were tried and convicted for negligence, a concrete example of the civic responsibility expected of scientists when an experimental venture inflicts harm on an unwitting public. The example of L\u00fcbeck stands as an object lesson on the necessity of an informed, measured approach to any novel treatment. Controversies continue whether BCG vaccination is the preferred public health strategy against tuberculosis. Calmette and Gu\u00e9rin\u2019s lasting scientific achievement is the creation of a microbe that over a century has kept its essential features of inciting a vigorous immunological reaction that was tolerated by its host and never regaining its pathogenicity. The features form the basis of modern cancer immunotherapy, where intravesical BCG is first-line therapy against non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/00031348251313994","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,9]],"date-time":"2025-01-09T20:19:46Z","timestamp":1736453986000},"page":"672-676","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["A Novel Microbe, Immunization Deaths, and Vaccination on Trial: BCG and the L\u00fcbeck Disaster of 1930"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"91","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-9324-9031","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Don K.","family":"Nakayama","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Mercer University School of Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,9]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","first-page":"89","article-title":"Premunition des nouveau-nes contre la tuberculose par le vaccine BCG (1921-1926)","volume":"40","author":"Calmette A","year":"1926","unstructured":"Calmette A, Gu\u00e9rin C, Negre L, Bocquet A. Premunition des nouveau-nes contre la tuberculose par le vaccine BCG (1921-1926). Ann Inst Pasteur. 1926;40(2):89-120.","journal-title":"Ann Inst Pasteur"},{"issue":"6","key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","first-page":"e2021453","article-title":"Vaccination through time: from the first smallpox vaccine to current vaccination campaigns against the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"92","author":"Conti AA","year":"2021","unstructured":"Conti AA. Vaccination through time: from the first smallpox vaccine to current vaccination campaigns against the COVID-19 pandemic. Acta Biomed. 2021;92(Suppl 6):e2021453.","journal-title":"Acta Biomed"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7326\/0003-4819-4-2-190"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/ahr.117.3.671"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S2213-2600(15)00065-X"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.1.3514.793"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_2","unstructured":"Shaw GB. Back to methuselah. Part 6 (Line spoken by Ecrasia). Available at: https:\/\/www.fullbooks.com\/Back-to-Methuselah6.html. Accessed December 15 2024."},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_3_9_2","first-page":"9","article-title":"A study of Bacillus Calmette-Gu\u00e9rin (B.C.G.)","volume":"19","author":"Petroff SA","year":"1929","unstructured":"Petroff SA, Branch A, Steenken W. A study of Bacillus Calmette-Gu\u00e9rin (B.C.G.). Am Rev Tuberc. 1929;19(1):9-46.","journal-title":"Am Rev Tuberc"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0277-9536(99)00157-4"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1183\/16000617.0046-2022"},{"issue":"1860","key":"e_1_3_3_12_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"198","DOI":"10.1126\/science.72.1860.198","article-title":"The L\u00fcbeck disaster","volume":"72","year":"1930","unstructured":"The L\u00fcbeck disaster. Science. 1930;72(1860):198-199.","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_3_13_2","first-page":"12","article-title":"The BCG disaster, L\u00fcbeck, 1930: an oral history project of the \u2018Calmette Children\u2019 and their survivorship","volume":"1","author":"Lohse H","year":"2021","unstructured":"Lohse H. The BCG disaster, L\u00fcbeck, 1930: an oral history project of the \u2018Calmette Children\u2019 and their survivorship. Int J Urol Hist. 2021;1(1):12-18.","journal-title":"Int J Urol Hist"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1932.02730410080022"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_3_15_2","first-page":"10","article-title":"L\u00fcbeck disaster","volume":"27","author":"Willis HS","year":"1933","unstructured":"Willis HS. L\u00fcbeck disaster. Am Rev Tuberc. 1933;27(1):10-11.","journal-title":"Am Rev Tuberc"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_3_3_16_2","first-page":"53","article-title":"History of BCG vaccine","volume":"8","author":"Luca S","year":"2013","unstructured":"Luca S, Mihaescu T. History of BCG vaccine. 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