Spirochaete

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Spirochaeta \Spi`ro*chae"ta\, Spirochaete \Spi`ro*chae"te\, n.
     [L. spira a coil + Gr. ??? hair.] (Biol.)
     A genus of Spirobacteria similar to Spirillum, but
     distinguished by its motility. One species, the {Spirochaete
     Obermeyeri}, is supposed to be the cause of relapsing fever.
     [1913 Webster]



From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Relapsing \Re*laps"ing\, a.
     Marked by a relapse; falling back; tending to return to a
     former worse state.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     {Relapsing fever} (Med.), an acute, epidemic, contagious
        fever, which prevails also endemically in Ireland, Russia,
        and some other regions. It is marked by one or two
        remissions of the fever, by articular and muscular pains,
        and by the presence, during the paroxism of spiral
        bacterium ({Spirochaete}) in the blood. It is not usually
        fatal. Called also {famine fever}, and {recurring fever}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  spirochaete
       n : parasitic or free-living bacteria; many pathogenic to humans
           and other animals [syn: {spirochete}]