Mycobacteria include species of great medical importance, being responsible for both animal and human diseases, including tuberculosis, paratuberculosis, and leprosy. Although M. tuberculosis and M. leprae are the most notable mycobacterial human pathogens, M. bovis, M. avium subsp. avium, M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis, M. ulcerans, and other nontuberculous mycobacteria are causes of important clinical conditions in humans and a wide range of animal species including cattle, sheep, goats, deer, possums, badgers, elephants, dogs, cats, avian species, amphibians, and fish. Moreover, species such as M. bovis are serious zoonotic pathogens and have become important agents at the interface of humans, livestock, and wildlife. Great effort has been expended in eliminating diseases such as bovine tuberculosis and paratuberculosis, not only serious animal diseases, but also diseases of significant economic impact to agriculture. There is a need to understand mechanisms (host and pathogen) involved in mycobacterial diseases, including latency, recrudescence, and clearance of infection. Such knowledge will be the key to developing novel control strategies. We invite authors to submit original research and review articles that describe mycobacterial diseases of animals, including pathogenesis, transmission, diagnosis, epidemiology, disease impact, zoonotic potential, and economic effects. Special minireviews that cover new and emerging topics of general relevance to mycobacterial diseases such as next generation sequencing and new diagnostic platforms along with proteomics and metabolomics will also be considered. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Advances in diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis and paratuberculosis
• Economic impact of bovine tuberculosis and paratuberculosis and effect on import and export markets
• Advances in vaccine development for mycobacterial diseases of animals
• Understanding the pathogenesis of bovine tuberculosis, paratuberculosis, and atypical mycobacterial infections such as M. ulcerans and M. kansasii
• Innate and adaptive immune responses to mycobacterial pathogens related to persistence and latency
• Host nutrition, genetics, and stress in mycobacterial disease
• The role of other pathogens (e.g., viruses, parasites, etc.) in mycobacterial disease
• Wildlife reservoirs of mycobacterial pathogens
• Impact on wildlife and domestic livestock
• Zoonotic mycobacterial diseases
• Mycobacterial diseases of captive wildlife, including detection, control, and public health
• Mycobacterial diseases of companion animals

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/vmi/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: