Short-course chemotherapy for pulmonary infection due to Mycobacterium bovis

Three residents of The Open Door Mission of Omaha developed pulmonary infections due to Mycobacterium bovis. All were alcoholics with malnutrition. The disease was most likely due to reactivation of a primary infection acquired at least 30 years earlier in the index case. Both of the secondary patients had been treated more than ten years previously for infections due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Supervised short-course chemotherapy was effective in treating the disease caused by Mycobacterium bovis.