Disseminated Mycobacterium bovis infection in an elderly patient.

We report a fatal case of disseminated infection due to Mycobacterium bovis occurring in an elderly patient. The greatest incidence of tuberculosis is in the aged, who were likely to have been infected in childhood when the disease was more prevalent. However, the clinical or radiographic presentation of tuberculosis in the older patient may be atypical or nonspecific, contributing to delay in diagnosis, and greater morbidity and mortality.