Systematic Veterinary Bacteriology and Mycology

HABITAT

• It has a worldwide distribution. The usual habitats of the great majority of the cultivable mycobacteria are water and watery habitats, marshes, wet soil, streams, lakes, rivers.
• The source of the pathogenic mycobacteria is usually infected animals.
• Mycobacterium bovis is excreted in respiratory discharges, faeces, milk, urine and semen.
• Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium paratuberculosis are shed in faeces and Mycobacterium tuberculosis mainly in respiratory discharges.
• The atypical mycobacteria are widespread in soil, pastures, grass and water.
• A few are commensals in animals and may infect them.