Treatment of Common and Plane Warts in Children with Topical Viable Bacillus Calmette‐Guerin

Abstract

Treatment of verrucae in children is difficult and may be painful using traditional methods, especially if they are multiple or on the face. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of topical application of viable Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in a paste formula as a new immunotherapeutic modality in the treatment of common and plane warts in children. The present study included 80 children with common and plane warts at different sites on the body. They were divided into two groups. Group A (40 patients) received topical viable BCG and group B (40 patients) received topical saline as control. All patients and controls had received a previous vaccination of BCG. BCG was applied once weekly for six consecutive weeks. Patients who had partial or no response received another course of treatment for another 6 weeks. Follow-up was at 6 months to detect any recurrences. A highly significant difference was found between the therapeutic response of common and plane warts to BCG and saline (placebo) (p < 0.001). Complete response was achieved in 65% of children with common warts and 45% of patients with plane warts. No response was detected in the control group. No recurrences or side effects were observed in the BCG group. Topical immunotherapeutic BCG is a new, effective, safe treatment option for children with common and plane warts.

Intralesional immunotherapy with killed Mycobacterium indicus pranii vaccine for the treatment of extensive cutaneous warts

“…[13] Considering its immunotherapeutic potential, Salem et al evaluated topical BCG vaccine for warts in children and noted a complete response in 65% patients with common warts and 45% with plane warts. [26] More recently, MMR vaccine was evaluated as a treatment option for cutaneous warts in a randomized placebo-controlled trial. A complete response was achieved in 81.4% of the patients in the MMR group as compared with 27.5% of patients in the placebo group.…”

Immunometabolic Pathways in BCG-Induced Trained Immunity

“…Furthermore, in two randomized controlled trials, early administration of the BCG vaccination reduced child mortality, mainly as a result of less neonatal sepsis and lower respiratory infections (Aaby et al., 2011, Biering-Sørensen et al., 2012, Kristensen et al., 2000). BCG is also used to treat bladder cancer and appears to be beneficial in treating several other diseases or conditions, such as warts, leishmaniasis, and asthma (Pereira et al., 2009, Rousseau et al., 2008, Salem et al., 2013). As further proof of its non-specific protective effects, BCG was shown to protect mice against lethal candidiasis (van ’t Wout et al., 1992), and, interestingly, this protective effect was also present in SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency) mice, therefore showing that this non-specific protection is T and B cell independent (Kleinnijenhuis et al., 2012).…”

A Retrospective Study of a Chinese Traditional Medicine YIKEER in the Treatment of Verruca Patients in Liaoning District

“…Our overall efficacies were better than those of previous studies, such as treating with cryotherapy or neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet laser with success rates of 63-70% [2,28]. Specifically, the percentage of patients with verruca vulgaris or verruca plantaris who achieved complete response was over 86% by using the YIKEER, and the percentage of verruca vulgaris patients who achieved complete response was higher than 65% by using topical viable bacillus Calmette-Guerin, and similarly, the percentage of verruca plantaris patients who achieved complete response was higher than 79.1% by a single sublesional injection of interferon-α2a [4,29]. In addition, 82.42% verruca plana patients gained the complete response by using YIKEER, which was higher than 53.33% auricular acupuncture in a previous study [8].…”

“…ere are many possible ways to treat verruca including topical medications, intralesional immunotherapy, cryotherapy, laser, and photodynamic therapy [4].…”