spirochaete

spirochaete US, spirochete [ˈspaɪrəʊˌkiːt]

n

(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Microbiology) any of a group of spirally coiled rodlike bacteria that includes the causative agent of syphilis See treponema

[from New Latin spīrochaeta; see spiro-², chaeta]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

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