Introduction

Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is a chronic, systemic disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis. It is characterized by gradual physical deterioration, lymphadenopathy, and development of tuberculous lesions that may be extensive, mainly in the lungs and associated lymph nodes.

A. Muwonge (*)

The Roslin Institute, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Midlothian, UK

e-mail: Adrian.muwonge@roslin.ed.ac.uk

F. Egbe

Microbiology and Parasitology Unit, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria

M. Bronsvoort

Genetics and Genomics, Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, Midlothian, UK e-mail: mark.bronsvoort@roslin.ed.ac.uk

D. B. Areda

College of Science Engineering and Technology (CSET), Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ, USA

Department of Biological Sciences, Minnesota State University, Mankato, Mankato, MN, USA e-mail: demelash.areda@mnsu.edu

T. Hlokwe

Zoonotic Diseases Section, ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Onderstepoort,

South Africa

e-mail: hlokwet@arc.agric.za

A. Michel

Department Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa e-mail: anita.michel@up.ac.za

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A. B. Dibaba et al. (eds.), Tuberculosis in Animals: An African Perspective, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18690-6_8 pathogen via the bloodstream (Neill et al. 2005). Bovine TB is endemic in most African countries, and 80% (33/43) of the OIE member countries on the African continent reported its presence (Daborn et al. 1996). These infections result in an unknown but probably substantial economic loss by the livestock industry, mostly by failing to participate in the international trade in livestock and livestock products because of the presence of BTB in the herds. Apart from the domestic animal species, BTB also occurs in a wide range of wild animal species, some of which have become maintenance hosts that pose a threat of maintenance and transmission of the diseases at the wildlife-livestock interface. From a public health perspective, zoonotic tuberculosis is transmitted through the consumption of raw, infected milk and aerosol exposure during close physical contact with Mycobacterium bovis- infected live or dead animals (Cosivi et al. 1998).

Despite its known endemic status, data accurately describing the distribution and prevalence of BTB and its causal agent, M. bovis, in Africa are lacking or inadequate since most countries do not maintain functional and timely disease recording and reporting systems. The limited available data have, however, been reviewed to document its occurrence and distribution in animals and humans on the continent (Ayele et al. 2004).

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