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( Mycobacterium bovis)
Mycobacterium bovis is a slow-growing (16 to 20 hour generation time), aerobic bacterium and the causative agent of tuberculosis in cattle (known as bovine TB). Related to M. tuberculosis—the bacteria which causes tuberculosis in humans—M. bovis can also jump the species barrier and cause tuberculosis in humans.[1] 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.[citation needed] In the 1930s, 40% of cows in the UK were infected with M.&_160;bovis and there were 50,000 new cases of human M.&_160;bovis infection every year.[3] Since 1990, only one case of human M.&_160;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. In the UK many other mammals have been found to be infected with M. bovis but the frequency of isolation is much less than cattle and badgers. The disease is found in cattle throughout the globe but some countries have been able to reduce or limit the incidence of the disease through process of 'test and cull' of the cattle stock. Most of Europe and several Caribbean countries (including Cuba) are virtually free of M bovis. Australia is officially free of the disease since the successful BTEC program, but residual infections might exist in feral water buffalo in isolated parts of the Northern Territory. In the United States, there is endemic M. bovis in White-tailed Deer in the northeastern portion of the state of Michigan and in northern Minnesota and sporadic import of the disease from Mexico. In Canada, there are affected wild elk and white-tailed deer around Ridning Mountiain National Park in Manitoba. The disease has also been found in wild buffalo in South Africa and Brush-tailed possums in New Zealand.
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