On the basis of available literature there has been elaborated a review of the incidence of the human tuberculosis agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, in animals. It has been found that M. tuberculosis was isolated from 92 (0.31%) out of 32,276 head of cattle and pigs examined in the years 1958-1977 in England, Norway, FRG, Slovakia and the USA. In 474 non-human primates and free-living ruminants kept in various zoological gardens in the USA M. tuberculosis has been isolated in 29 (6.1%) animals, as revealed by an assessment in 1981. In the Czech Republic M. tuberculosis has been isolated in 1984 only from tuberculous lungs of an old dog the owner of which had treated pulmonary tuberculosis that was likewise caused by the species M. tuberculosis. On the basis of statistical data collected from the territory of six countries (Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) in the years 1990 through 1999, M. tuberculosis has been isolated from tuberculous tissue of 16 animals only in Poland and Slovakia.The infected animals were nine head of cattle and four domestic pigs from different farms, one African elephant (Laxodonta africana), one golden agouti (Dasyprocta aguti), and a South-American tapir (Tapirus terrestris) from a zoo in Poland. Most often the source of infection was a human shedding the causal agent of human tuberculosis in the sputum, less often in the urine or stool. In Slovakia M. tuberculosis was isolated from the water of a stream into which led waste water lacking sufficient disinfection from tuberculosis sanatorium.

        Key words: Mycobacterium tuberculosis - Mycobacterium bovis - bovine tuberculosis - tuberculosis in animals - human tuberculosis - epidemiology.