Bovine TMB Essays - Actinobacteria, Actinobacteridae,

Bovine TMB Bovine Tuberculosis Mycobacterium bovis (Bovine Tuberculosis) (or cattle Tuberculosis) was first discovered by Columella (Louis Junius Moderatus Columella) which was born in Cadiz, Spain and resided in Northern Italy when he discovered the bovine Tuberculosis in the year 14 A D. In 1882 Robert Koch discovered that the connection between human and animal Tuberculosis actually were established. When Koch realized that children were becoming infected from contaminated cow's milk most nations brought out legal instruments designed to remove chronically infected animals and take a look at the public health aspect of the problem. The Disease Mycobacterium bovis is the bacterium that causes bovine Tuberculosis. It manifests itself in livestock (especially in cattle and hogs) and it has also affected wild life such as White Tailed Deer, Bear, Coyotes, Raccoons, and Bobcat in the northeastern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. From 1995 to 1999 17,721 deer from six counties (Alpena, Montmorency, Oscoda, Alcona, Presque Ile, and Otsego) in Michigan were taken and examined and to date only 228 deer, 1 bear, 5 coyotes, 2 raccoons, and 1 bobcat have tested positive for bovine Tuberculosis. In the same area there was also 3 herds of cattle infected with the disease. This disease is also known all over the country and the world from Australia to New Zealand to the United Kingdom. The most likely way to spread the disease in the wild is the bobcat, coyotes, raccoons, and bear eating the lungs and lymph nodes of infected animals. There are three main types of bovine Tuberculosis: human (Mycobacterium Tuberculosis)which can affect humans and can be transmitted to dogs, cats, cattle, hogs, goats, sheep, and most any other mammal on earth, bovine (Mycobacterium bovis) which affects animals and can be transmitted to humans (but it is very rare that this may happen), avian (Mycobacterium avian complex) which primarily effect only birds but in some cases there has been some cases in which cattle and hogs have been infected with the avian Tuberculosis. The two-mammalian types are more closely related to each other then the avian type. The disease's presence in humans has been reduced as a result in the eradication program, advances in sanitation and hygiene, the discovery of effective drugs, and pasteurization of milk. There is another minor type of bovine Tuberculosis, which is as microti (Mycobacterium Microti) which affects rodents. Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is the most host specific of the three major types of Tuberculosis, rarely being transmitted to other birds (Mycobacterium avian), or mammals (Mycobacterium bovis). Bovine Tuberculosis is the most infectious type of Tuberculosis it infects most warm-blooded animals to include humans. Condition Bovine Tuberculosis can only live for only a few weeks out side of the host's body because it can not handle the exposure of the heat, direct sunlight, or extremely dry conditions. Bovine Tuberculosis will survive longer under cool to cold, moist, and dark conditions. The only place the Mycobacterium will grow (outside of the host) is on a culture plate, where the bacteria will multiply at a very slow rate of about every 20 hours or so. As time goes on, bovine Tuberculosis is a disease that take many months or may take many years to develop or may lie dormant in the host's body for a lifetime. If the disease does not become dormant, in wildlife and in livestock it will leave multiple tan or yellow lumps on the rib cage or yellow lesions on the lungs about the size of a pea. Transmission Bovine Tuberculosis is a chronic, highly contagious and infectious disease caused by several bacteria of the Mycobacterium family (tubercles) which it first affects the respiratory system and the lymph nodes and may be found in any organ or body cavity. There are several different ways for animals to contract the disease; one is airborne exposure from coughing and sneezing, (which is the most frequent way to contract the disease) which the risk is much higher in enclosed areas, such as barns. Another way to be infected is the consumption of contaminated food, water, or milk, from infected animals rubbing on a post or wire and another animal rubs against the same area, also using infected cattle trailers or transport vehicles, and avoid interaction and contact with other herds. Eradication Program The most effective way to handle the problem of bovine Tuberculosis in humans is to eradicate it in livestock. The eradication program began in 1917, the cooperative state-federal Tuberculosis eradication program, which was administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). All cattle