Spatiotemporal Distribution and Clinical Characteristics of Zoonotic Tuberculosis, Spain, 2018-2022
Investigation article published in Emerging Infectious Diseases
July 1st, 2025
Zoonotic tuberculosis (zTB) is a communicable disease that has major effects on both human and animal health. Spain reports the highest number of zTB cases in humans annually in the European Union. We describe the epidemiology of human cases of zTB caused by Mycobacterium bovis and M. caprae in Spain during 2018-2022. The incidence of M. bovis infection compared with M. tuberculosis infection was higher in patients who were native-born (adjusted odds ratio [aOR) 2.32, 95% CI 1.44-3.82), HIV-negative (aOR 3.39, 95% CI 1.24-14.0), or had extrapulmonary forms of TB (aOR 2.20, 95% CI 1.46-3.28). The spatial pattern differed by M. tuberculosis complex species; we identified 3 significant clusters of M. bovis and 1 of M. caprae in bovine TB-free regions. Our results show the importance of including animal and human data on circulating zoonotic pathogens under the One Health umbrella
Roy A., Gomez-Barroso D., Cruz-Ferro E., Fernandez A., Martinez-Pino I., del Henar-Marcos M., Ursua-Díaz I., Miras S., Echave N., Ouranou E., Romero B., Herrera-Leon L., Herrador Z. and Study Group on Zoonotic Tuberculosis.
 | Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP). Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII). |
 | Conselleria de Sanidad. Xunta de Galicia. |
 | Consejería de Salud y Servicios Sanitarios. Gobierno del Principado de Asturias. |
 | Consejería de Sanidad. Junta de Castilla y León. |
| Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. | |
 | Servicio de Micobacterias (MYC). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
| Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM). |
Related news in other media:
- Un estudio revela la incidencia, distribución geográfica y evolución temporal de la tuberculosis zoonósica en España - animalshealth.es
- Un estudio One Health describe la distribución y características clínicas de la tuberculosis zoonósica en España - animalshealth.es
