In some countries of the EU there is still being reported a rather high occurrence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle (e.g. Spain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and Great Britain). In centrál Europe, as a result of national health control programs, bovine tuberculosis has been curbed in the second half of the past century. The last foci of bovine tuberculosis háve been diagnosed in Slovakia and in Slovenia in 1993, in the Czech Bpublic in 1995, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in Croatia in 1999. In domestic animals the agent of bovine tuberculosis has been isolated from pigs, sheep, cats, dogs and other animals. Transmission of the bovine tuberculosis agent can be through acquisition of infected animals from abroad, infection of cattle from free-living reservoir animals, or from an infected keeper or other persons.

        Key words: Mycobacterium tuberculosis - domestic animals - risk assessment - zoonosis.