During the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, a vaccine with Bulgarian contribution has attracted the attention of scientists from around the world. Scientists are wondering whether it is true that the immune system of those vaccinated against tuberculosis responds to various infections, hoping clinical trials would give answer to the most important question – could the so-called BCG vaccine be used in the fight against coronavirus?

When developing the Bulgarian version of the tuberculosis vaccine in the middle of the past century, Dr. Srebra Rodopska probably did not think that her work aimed at eradicating tuberculosis in many countries around the world would inspire hope decades later in the fight against coronavirus pandemic.

Srebra Rodopska was born in Sofia in 1913 and a family tragedy predetermined early her path to becoming a microbiologist. Her little brother died of mumps and the girl decided to study medicine.Immediately after graduation she started work at the Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. At that time, tuberculosis was a big issue in this country and many were affected. Indeed, the Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine already existed, but it was so expensive that only the most affluent and educated families could afford it. Dr. Srebra Rodopska decided to devote her life to the development of a Bulgarian way of prevention.

"In 1948 she went to Paris together with my grandfather (Professor Tasho Tashev), who went to specialize in internal diseases," her granddaughter, Srebrina Bobeva, said in an interview with the BNR. “She spent nearly a year at the Pasteur Institute, where she studied the making of the live French tuberculosis vaccine.

After that she returned to Bulgaria with the strain and started developing her Bulgarian version. In 1951, the first immunizations were carried out with the new vaccine, but because of suppurative cervical lymphadenitis in about 1% of orally vaccinated newborns, a few years later it was replaced with the Russian BCG strain, which the doctor adapted to Bulgarian conditions. This is how mass immunization started in Bulgaria."

In 1951, immunization against tuberculosis became mandatory for all newborns and children under the age of 18 and morbidity in all age groups declined sharply. In the meantime, the properties of the developed Bulgarian sub-strain attracted great interest at the first conference on the BCG vaccine, held in Geneva in 1956. A number of countries - Japan, Austria, the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, etc. used Dr. Srebra Rodopska's scientific knowledge to refine their production and control methods. A PhD student of the Bulgarian expert also brought the Bulgarian vaccine to Vietnam.

Since 1991, the Bulgarian BCG Laboratory has been one out of three in the world approved by the WHO as a provider to UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organization. Today, the Bulgarian vaccine is used in more than 180 countries.

"My grandmother was very unusual person. I remember her as being very busy, very elegant and constantly reading,” Srebrina Bobeva says.“The one thing I remember most clearly about her was that she always had a book in her hand. And I'm not just talking about science book, but fiction too. She was an erudite as well as an extremely caring grandmother for her four grandchildren."

Dr. Srebra Rodopska lived to the age of 93 and did not part with her favorite books until her last breath.

Editor: Diana Tsankova (based on interview by Iryna Nedeva, BNR)

English: Alexander Markov