The British media alert and the British health authorities reassured by assessing the risk of transmission as very low. However, the report of authorities is formal, two people have well developed tuberculosis (TB) after contact with domestic cats infected by bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis). This bacterium, found mainly in cattle and less present among other species of animal, is already quite known, since long, as a source of tuberculosis in humans.Most cases of tuberculosis in humans is linked to Mycobacter Mycobacterium tuberculosis. But the bovine tuberculosis (less than 1% of cases in humans) can be transmitted to man via air or diatery channel or contaminated food, as milk. The incidence of human tuberculosis in Europe and France is in sharp decline. As Well, the last french balance sheet (InVS1995) reported thirty cases on the year. Formerly, tuberculosis to M. bovis affected mostly babies and children, today it is diagnosed more frequently among elderly who have contracted the infection previously. If it is a known fact that the bacterium can therefore be transmitted from animals to man, this is the first time that cases of transmission of the chat to the man are documented.
Sources:
Public Health England March 27 2014 Cases of TB in domestic cats and cat-to-human transmission: risk to public very low
Veterinary Records 2014;174:13 331-332 March 28 2014 Mycobacterium bovis infection in cats. Veterinary Record
