a highly variable communicable disease of humans and some other vertebrates that is caused by the tubercle bacillus and rarely in the U.S. by a related mycobacterium (Mycobacterium bovis), that affects especially the lungs but may spread to other areas (such as the kidney or spinal column), and that is characterized by fever, cough, difficulty in breathing, formation of tubercles, caseation, pleural effusions, and fibrosis, infectious disease affecting all groups of vertebrates, including domesticated animals and humans, caused by some bacteria of the genus Mycobacterium (M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. avium) and characterised by the formation of granulomatous lesions, which are frequently multiple and tend to be nodular in form, inimese ja loomade pikaldase kuluga nakkushaigus, mida põhjustab tuberkuloosibakter (Mycobacterium tuberculosis)