spirochete

n.
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.]

spirochetal spi'ro·chet'al (-kēt'l) adj.

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n

Any bacterium of the genus Spirochaeta that is motile and spiral shaped with flexible filaments. Spirochetes include the organisms responsible for leprosy, relapsing fever, syphilis, and yaws.

1. a highly coiled bacterium; a general term applied to any organism of the order Spirochaetales, which includes the causative organisms of human syphilis (Treponema pallidum), of avian spirochetosis (Borrelia anserina) and rabbit spirochetosis (Treponema paraluiscuniculi), and associated with swine dysentery (Brachyspira hyodysenteriae) and footrot of sheep.
2. an organism of the genus Spirochaeta.