BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS IN THE HISTORICAL ASPECT OF ITS ERADICATION IN POLAND BETWEEN 1882 AND 1975

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic pulmonary disease caused by different representatives of Mycobacterium. The fight against bovine TB has been implemented within the framework of the 'One Health’ concept. ‘One Health’ is based on cooperation between broad medical professions, including medicine and veterinary medicine to prevent prevalence of zoonotic diseases. Analysing the development of these disciplines throughout history, we can say that they common origin. Up to the second half of the 18th century, it was often the same people treating both humans and animals. Veterinary medicine diverged from medicine in the second half of the 18th century, after the first veterinary schools were established. However, it occurred that some diseases affecting humans and animals required close cooperation between medicine and veterinary medicine. At first, the link between human and cattle TB has not been made. Due to the chronic nature of TB, it usually took quite long between contact with the sick animal or its products and the onset of the disease. But, after Robert Koch attributed the origin of the disease to mycobacteria, the progress has been made in identification of the pathogenicity of human and bovine TB. Effective measures of limiting spread of TB had to combine treatment of infected people with eliminating the reservoirs of the germ, which were and are animals. Due to coordinated efforts within ‘One Health’, about a hundred years later, many countries were announced as TB-free.