[Tuberculosis in animals]

Tuberculosis is a well known disease for immemorial time and very diffuse in animals. Today the technological progress of zoo technology decreased the incidence of tuberculosis in animals and at the same time, it modified the epidemiological characteristics in all animal species. We can confirm that in intensive pig- and chicken raising tuberculosis is now quite inexistent. About sanitary reclamation, unfortunately Italy takes a very low position among European countries, since the eradication of bovine tuberculosis is not settled in some provinces. At Piedmont, tubercular lesions in female genital apparatus of regularly slaughtered cows are been shown in about 7% of all examined animals (4500), percentage tantamount to 30-40% of pulmonary tuberculosis. The diagnostic difficulties come from the fact that also in cows tubercular disease can be clinically silent for a long time. In man, animal tuberculosis can be consequent upon an occupational risk. Also in town, the contact with domestic animals proposes as important the problem of a careful antitubercular survey.