M.: Is there a risk of animals being infected with thehuman tuberculosis agent?

Overview

On the basis of available literature there has been elaborated a review of the incidence of thehuman tuberculosis agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, in animals. It has been found thatM. tuberculosis was isolated from 92 (0.31%) out of 32,276 head of cattle and pigs examined inthe years 1958-1977 in England, Norway, FRG, Slovakia and the USA. In 474 non-humanprimates and free-living ruminants kept in various zoological gardens in the USA M. tuberculosishas been isolated in 29 (6.1%) animals, as revealed by an assessment in 1981. In the CzechRepublic M. tuberculosis has been isolated in 1984 only from tuberculous lungs of an old dogthe owner of which had treated pulmonary tuberculosis that was likewise caused by the speciesM. tuberculosis. On the basis of statistical data collected from the territory of six countries(Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) in the years 1990 through1999, M. tuberculosis has been isolated from tuberculous tissue of 16 animals only in Polandand Slovakia.The infected animals were nine head of cattle and four domestic pigs from differentfarms, one African elephant (Laxodonta africana), one golden agouti (Dasyprocta aguti), anda South-American tapir (Tapirus terrestris) from a zoo in Poland. Most often the source ofinfection was a human shedding the causal agent of human tuberculosis in the sputum, lessoften in the urine or stool. In Slovakia M. tuberculosis was isolated from the water of a streaminto which led waste water lacking sufficient disinfection from tuberculosis sanatorium.

Key words:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - Mycobacterium bovis - bovine tuberculosis - tuberculosisin animals - human tuberculosis - epidemiology.