Disseminated Mycobacterium bovis infection in an immunocompetent host

We report about a rare case of disseminated Mycobacterium bovis infection in a 61 year old female immuno-competent patient with involvement of the lung, the brain, the spleen and spine. The patient had intracerebral tuberculomas with paradoxical enlargement during the first weeks of therapy. We reviewed the data of our microbiological department and found five other patients with Mycobacterium bovis infection diagnosed between 1999 and 2004, which are 5.8 % of all diagnoses of tuberculosis during this period.