Between 1969 and 1983 inclusive, the bovine variants ofMycobacterium tuberculosis(M. bovisandM. africanum) were isolated from 75 patients with tuberculosis. This represented 2.9 per cent of all significant mycohacteria identified at the Liverpool Public Health Laboratory during this period. The clinical and radiological features of infection did not differ from those found withM. tuberculosis. There was an association betweenM.bovisinfection, extrapulmonary disease and lifelong United Kingdom residency, and betweenM. africanuminfection, pulmonary disease and immigrant status. Correlations between the present incidence of reactivatedM. bovisdisease and past prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in man and cattle, and between the isolation rate ofM. africanumand the size of the immigrant community served by the laboratory, were also demonstrated. All the patients withM. bovisinfection were considered to have a reactivated or slowly progressive primary infection. It is proposed thatM. bovisonly accounts for a small proportion of isolates from adults with tuberculosis because the organism displays a low tendency to reactivate.
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