Animal tuberculosis is a highly infectious disease caused by acid fast organisms of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC). Tuberculosis in cattle and other animal species is mainly caused by Mycobacterium bovis and, to a lesser extent, Mycobacterium caprae. Tuberculosis is a chronic, debilitating disease characterized by the formation of tubercles, most commonly observed in the lymph nodes, lungs, pleura, peritoneum, and less often in the intestines, liver and spleen. Despite decades of eradication efforts and an overall downward trend, the incidence of cases in cattle is not uniform and clusters of infection are still common. Other species are presumed to play a key role in maintaining the disease in the environment. Therefore, tuberculosis control measures should not be cattle limited but include small ruminants, as evidenced by the increased incidence of tuberculosis in sheep and goats, especially in endemic multi-host systems
