SPIROCHETE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spirochete mean? 

• SPIROCHETE (noun)
  The noun SPIROCHETE has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: SPIROCHETE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPIROCHETE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

spirochaete; spirochete

Hypernyms ("spirochete" is a kind of...):

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

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "spirochete"):

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)

Holonyms ("spirochete" is a member of...):

order Spirochaetales; Spirochaetales (higher bacteria; slender spiral rodlike forms)

 Context examples 

A genus of Gram-negative, aerobic, flexible, spiral-shaped, spirochete with internal flagella in the phylum Spirochaetes.

(Leptospira, NCI Thesaurus)

An infectious disease caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.

(Borrelia Burgdorferi Infection, NCI Thesaurus)

A contagious bacterial infection caused by spirochetes of the genus Leptospira.

(Leptospirosis, NCI Thesaurus)

Additionally Giemsa can be used as a differential stain to determine microbial cell adherence to human cells as well as in the diagnosis of malaria, spirochete, and protozoal infections.

(Giemsa Staining Method, NCI Thesaurus)

This tetracycline is active against a wide range of gram-positive and gram-negative organisms, spirochetes, rickettsial species, certain protozoa and Mycoplasma and Chlamydia organisms.

(Chlortetracycline Hydrochloride, NCI Thesaurus)