Rueters
04-15-07
Cow TB 'may spread between people'
British investigators describe 20 cases of humans being infected with
Mycobacterium bovis, a type of tuberculosis normally confined to cattle.
In six instances, the outbreak appears to have resulted from person-to-person
transmission.
This report "emphasizes the need to maintain control measures for human and
bovine tuberculosis," Dr Jason T
Evans, from the West Midlands Public Health Laboratory in Birmingham, UK, and
colleagues note in The Lancet medical journal. "Transmission and subsequent
disease was probably due to a combination of host and environmental factors."
The researchers performed DNA fingerprinting of all tuberculosis cases that
arose in central England between 2001 and 2005. Of the 20 cases that were due
to M bovis, a cluster of six were genetically identical.
All six cases involved young, UK-born individuals, the report indicates. The
infection involved the lungs in five patients and caused meningitis in one patient,
who died.
The patients had shared social links through bars in two areas. The lack of
contact with animals or dairy consumption in all but one of the individuals helped
make the case for person-to-person transmission of the infection.
In a related editorial, Dr Charles O Thoen, from Iowa State University in
Ames, and Dr. Philip A LoBue, from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta, comment that "investigations are needed to elucidate the
relative importance of M bovis in the worldwide tuberculosis problem in human
beings, especially in developing countries."
Special focus should be paid to countries with widespread HIV infection, since it
raises the risk of M bovis infection, they add.
Brought to you by REUTERS
© REUTERS 2007