The epizootic process of animal mycobacteriosis in countries around the world

The relevance of the problem of human mycobacteriosis is beyond doubt. Animal mycobacteriosis in Ukraine has not become a subject of the attention of scientists and practitioners of veterinary medicine. Despite the general decline in cattle, the number of farms where animals that give pseudoallergic reactions to tuberculin are detected is growing annually. This leads to difficulties in diagnosing tuberculosis and is the cause of economic losses due to the culling of highly productive cows. Unfortunately, in Ukraine, there is no unambiguous view on solving the problem of mycobacteriosis in productive animals, and there is no data on the spread of mycobacteriosis among wild animals and birds. Therefore, studying the experience of diagnosing and preventing animal mycobacteriosis in other countries is a relevant topic of scientific research. This literature review of scientific reports from different countries over the past three decades is devoted to disclosing this topic. Analysis of the epizootic process of mycobacteriosis of animals caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTMB) in countries of the world over the past decades indicates an uneven spatiotemporal dynamic of its manifestation – mycobacterial infections occur constantly and are widespread on all continents where animals are kept. NTMB are widely distributed on the territory of dairy farms of different countries – they are isolated both from abiotic environmental objects and from the body of cows. In cattle, mycobacteriosis occurs in a latent, asymptomatic form and is detected by simultaneous testing for allergic diagnostics of tuberculosis using tuberculin and allergen of atypical mycobacteria, with post-mortem bacteriological and histomorphological examination of biomaterial from reacting animals. From cattle, M. fortuitum, M. avium, M. intracellularae, M. scrofulaceum, M. phlei, M. vaccae were most often isolated, less often M. gordone, M. terrae, M. xenopi, M. peregrinum, M. flavenscens, M. diernhoferi, M. thamnpheos. In populations of wild animals, birds, and fish, mycobacteria are widely distributed. The causative agents of this infection were identified in various species of animals in all countries where a comprehensive approach to the diagnosis of the disease and the study of biomaterials was applied. As the causative agents of mycobacteriosis in wild fauna, the following types of mycobacteria were most often isolated: M. ulcerans, M. gordonae, M. avium, M. fortuitum – in animals; M. avium subsp. Avium, M. avium subsp. Hominissuis, M. genavense – in birds; M. marinum, M. fortuitum, and M. chelonae – in fish and a number of unidentified mycobacteria.