Zoonotic Tuberculosis: on the Decline

Mycobacterium bovis is a zoonotic member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex responsible for a clinical syndrome indistinguishable from that due to M. tuberculosis. In Australia, infection with M. bovis has historically been associated with employment in the livestock industry or immigration from countries in which animal disease is endemic. It currently accounts for 0.2% of all human cases of tuberculosis within Australia. This paper describes a case of pulmonary M. bovis in a butcher and reviews factors responsible for the declining incidence of this disease in Australia.