Efforts of identifying the place of tb infection and bcg vaccination in the hygiene hypothesis of allergy.

Hygiene hypothesis of allergy proposed by D. Strachan in the 1980s is still urgent. The goal of the study was the identification of association between BCG vaccinations and TB infection and bronchial asthma and other allergic manifestations and defining the nature of such association. The study engaged students of the Tbilisi secondary school #4, born in 1990-1998. The study was carried out using International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire and tuberculin test. The obtained data was statistically processed using computer software Epi-info (Version 3.3.2. Atlanta, USA). The conclusions of the study are as it follows: 1. There is no statistically reliable association between BCG vaccination and prevalence of Bronchial asthma, as well as other allergic manifestations. This makes doubtfull involvement of anti-TB immunization in hygiene hypothesis. 2. Incidence of bronchial asthma and other allergic manifestations among TB infected individuals is twice lower in comparison with non-infected persons. Despite this fact due to non-representativity of the material such inverse association is not statistically reliable.