spi·ro·chete

(spī′rə-kēt′)

Any of various slender, spiral, motile bacteria of the order Spirochaetales, many of which are pathogenic, causing syphilis, relapsing fever, yaws, and other diseases.

[New Latin Spīrochaeta, genus name : Latin spīra, coil; see spire² + New Latin chaeta, bristle, hair; see chaeta.]

spi′ro·chet′al (-kēt′l) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spi•ro•chete

(ˈspaɪ rəˌkit)

n.

any of various mobile, very slender, tightly to loosely coiled bacteria of the family Spirochaetaceae, including pathogenic species that are the cause of syphilis, leptospirosis, or relapsing fever.

[1875–80; < New Latin Spirochaeta. See spiro-, chaeta]

spi·ro·chete

(spī′rə-kēt′)

Any of various bacteria that are shaped like a spiral, some of which can cause disease in humans.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

spirochete - parasitic or free-living bacteria; many pathogenic to humans and other animals

spirochaete

eubacteria, eubacterium, true bacteria - a large group of bacteria having rigid cell walls; motile types have flagella

order Spirochaetales, Spirochaetales - higher bacteria; slender spiral rodlike forms

treponema - spirochete that causes disease in humans (e.g. syphilis and yaws)

borrelia - cause of e.g. European and African relapsing fever

Borrelia burgdorferi, Lime disease spirochete - cause of Lyme disease; transmitted primarily by ticks of genus Ixodes

leptospira - important pathogens causing Weil's disease or canicola fever

Translations

spirocheta

spirochète

spi·ro·chete

n. espiroqueta, microorganismo espiral de la especie Spirochaetales que incluye el microorganismo causante de la sífilis.

English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

spirochete

n espiroqueta

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium that is classified as a spirochete. Another spirochete, Treponema pallidum, is a bacterium that has more than likely drastically changed human history.

Lyme Disease Tissue Collection Program

Borrelia miyamotoi is a spirochete that causes a relapsing febrile illness and is transmitted by hard Ixodes species ticks (1,2).

Borrelia miyamotoi Infections in Small Mammals, California, USA

"It's a bug- a spirochete - so you take these antibiotics, and they start killing it," she said.

Had accepted I was dying: Avril Lavigne

The spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi is the primary cause of Lyme disease in North America; it is carried by hard-bodied ticks that then feed on smaller mammals, such as white-footed mice, and larger animals, such as white-tailed deer.

Tickborne Infections Likely to Increase

The spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi is the primary cause of Lyme disease in North America; it is carried by hard-bodied ticks that then feed on smaller mammals such as white-footed mice and larger animals such as white-tailed deer.

Infectious Diseases

The potential for cross-reactivity of commercially available antibodies for T pallidum with other spirochete species poses a potential diagnostic pitfall when biopsies are taken from locations wherein spirochetes may be encountered.

Cross-reactivity of Anti-Treponema Immunohistochemistry With Non-Treponema Spirochetes: A Simple Call for Caution

Furthermore, they have supported the identification of cellular receptors for spirochete adherence in addition to various strategies for inducing an adaptive immune response against spirochetes in vitro (5).

Fluorescent membrane markers elucidate the association of Borrelia burgdorferi with tick cell lines

A solitary painless genital ulcer marks the first (primary) stage of infection with the spirochete Treponema pallidum (table (1-3)).

Young man with unexplained hair loss

Although all three stages can feed on humans, nymphs are responsible for the vast majority of spirochete transmission to humans [23], but adult I.

Lyme borreliosis: is there a preexisting (natural) variation in antimicrobial susceptibility among Borrelia burgdorferi strains?

pallidum, an anaerobic filamentous spirochete. (1) The primary stage is known as syphilis chancre.

Labial ulcer: oral manifestation of syphilis

Borrelia miyamotoi is a spirochete related to Borrelia burgdorferi, the microorganism that causes Lyme disease, and is transmitted by the same four tick species that carry B.

Newly described tick-borne infection in New England