Patent ID: 7288261

Claim:
A method for boosting the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in a mammal which has been vaccinated neonatally or early in life with BCG, to increase the resistance of said mammal to Mtb infection, said method comprising: administering to a mammal in need of said boosting, an immunogenically effective amount of an Mtb immunogenic protein composition that comprises one or more purified Mtb proteins or homologues of said proteins, which protein or homologue is characterized in that it: (a) stimulates significant interferon-γ secretion by T lymphocytes of a mammal which has been immunized with Mtb antigens; and/or (b) when administered to a mammalian subject at an age when immunity induced by said BCG vaccination is waning, significantly increases the resistance of said subject to Mtb infection, thereby increasing the resistance of said mammal to Mtb infection.