The strain of tuberculosis, or bovine TB, can be found mostly in cattle, but also in animals like bison, elk and deer.
The man lived in a region with a low amount of human tuberculosis diagnoses, but where many deer test positive for the virus.
The man had been a hunter who field-dressed deer for 20 years, the CDC said. Field dressing is when you remove the internal organs of an animal after a successful hunt.
It is believed that the man may have breathed in the bacteria as he gutted a deer, according to the CDC report.
Officials are not sure when it may have happened over the two decades, but that the infection reactivated in 2017.
There had been a few cases of bovine TB being found in humans in Michigan, once in 2004, when a hunter had a finger injury suffered during field-dressing a deer. There was another case in 2002, when like the 2017 case, experts believed the hunter breathed in the bacteria while field-dressing a carcass.
Because of the threat of transmission, the CDC is suggesting hunters use protective equipment while field-dressing a deer. They are also saying that if a deer head is submitted for TB testing and is positive for the disease, the hunter could be at a higher risk of the infection and should be screened.
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