Mycobacterium bovis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Bacteria Phylum: Actinobacteria Order: Actinomycetales Suborder: Corynebacterineae Family: Mycobacteriaceae Genus: Mycobacterium Species: M. bovis
Binomial name
Mycobacterium bovis Karlson & Lessel 1970

Mycobacterium bovis is a slow-growing (16 to 20 hour generation time), aerobic bacterium and the causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle. Related to M. tuberculosis—the bacteria which causes tuberculosis in humans—M. bovis can also jump the species barrier and cause tuberculosis in humans. Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... Phyla/Divisions Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Omnibacteria Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular, bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ... Subclasses Acidimicrobidae Actinobacteridae Coriobacteridae Rubrobacteridae Sphaerobacteridae The Actinobacteria or Actinomycetes are a group of Gram-positive bacteria. ... Suborders Actinomycineae Corynebacterineae Frankineae Glycomycineae Micrococcineae Micromonosporineae Propionibacterineae Pseudonocardineae Streptomycineae Streptosporangineae Actinomycetales is an order of Actinobacteria. ... Families Corynebacteriaceae (Coryneform bacteria) Dietziaceae Gordoniaceae Mycobacteriaceae Nocardiaceae Tsukamurellaceae Williamsiaceae Corynebacterineae is a suborder of Actinomycetales. ... Species See text. ... Species See text. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is the formal method of naming species. ... Look up Aerobic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for Tubercle Bacillus) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by the mycobacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Mycobacterium bovis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, lymphatic system, circulatory system, genitourinary system, bones, joints, and even the... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle (often called cows in vernacular and contemporary usage, or kye as the Scots plural of cou) are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man or knowing man) under the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... Zoonosis (pronounced as zoo-on-no-sis) is any infectious disease that may be transmitted from animals, both wild and domestic, to humans. ...

Pathogenesis

It has been estimated that, during the first half of the 20th century, M. bovis was responsible for more losses among farm animals than all other infectious diseases combined. Infection occurs if the bacterium is ingested.

M. bovis is usually transmitted to humans via infected milk, although it can also spread via aerosol droplets. Actual infections in humans are rare, mostly due to pasteurisation killing any bacteria in infected milk; as well, cattle are randomly tested for the disease and immediately destroyed if infected. However, in areas of the developing world where pasteurisation is not routine, M. bovis is a relativey common cause of human tuberculosis.

Epidemiology

In the 1930's, 40% of cows in the UK were infected with M. bovis and there were 50,000 new cases of human M. bovis infection every year.^[1] Since 1990, only one case of human M. bovis infection acquired from an animal source has been documented in the UK. In 2004, 5.6% of herds were affected by restrictions because of M. bovis infection.

Badgers (Meles meles) were first identified as carriers of M. bovis 30 years ago, but it was the report of an independent review committee in 1997 which concluded that badgers made an important contribution to the spread of M. bovis between herds of cattle.^[2] This was the major cause of the current battle between animal conservationists (keen to save the badger) and farmers (keen to cull badgers, to reduce livestock losses). There are on-going trials to determine whether badger culling actually affects the spread of M. bovis; preliminary results have been published and are equivocal. For other uses, see Badger (disambiguation). ...

It should be noted that in the UK, other animals that carry M. bovis include deer and the red fox. In Australia, important carriers of M. bovis are the water buffalo and opossum. In the United States, there is endemic M. bovis in White-tailed Deer in the northeastern portion of the state of Michigan Fawn redirects here. ... Binomial name Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Vulpes fulva, Vulpes fulvus The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the most familiar of the foxes. ... For the controversy at the University of Pennsylvania, see Water buffalo incident. ... This article or section should be merged with Virginia_opossum The word opossum (usually pronounced without the leading O, or with only a very slight schwa) refers either to the Virginia Opossum in particular, or more generally to any of the other marsupials of magnorder Ameridelphia. ... Binomial name Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann, 1780 The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), also known as the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer found throughout most of the continental United States, southern Canada, Mexico, Central America and northern portions of South America as far south as Peru. ... Official language(s) None (English, de-facto) Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area  Ranked 11th  - Total 97,990 sq mi (253,793 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 491 miles (790 km)  - % water 41. ...

Treatment

See: Tuberculosis treatment

M. bovis is innately resistant to pyrazinamide: therefore the standard treatment is isoniazid and rifampicin for 9 months. The standard short course treatment for tuberculosis (TB) is isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol for two months, then isoniazid and rifampicin alone for a further four months. ...

References

1. ^ Reynolds D (2006). "A review of tuberculosis science and policy in Great Britain". Vet Microbiol 112 pages=119–126. PMED 16343818. 
2. ^ Krebs JR, Anderson T, Clutton-Brock WT, et al. (1997). Bovine tuberculosis in cattle and badgers: an independent scientific review. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.