Two cases of adverse reaction to bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) bladder instillations are reported. In both cases transient fevers and systemic symptoms developed following the instillations. After an additional instillation 1 patient had high fevers, severe myalgias and profound weakness followed by rhabdomyolysis and anuric renal failure, which required 3 weeks of hemodialysis before recovery. Extensive evaluation revealed no cause other than the BCG instillations. In the other patient a firm subcutaneous nodule gradually developed on the chest wall, which contained nonviable acid fast bacilli.
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Robert W. Armstrong (1991) studied this question.
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