Spirochete

Definition: Spirochete

Spirochete

Noun

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

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "spirochete" was first used: 1877. (references)

Medicine

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonym: Spirochete

Crosswords: Spirochete

From a lateral view, one is able to identify the cellular components along the length of a T. pallidum bacterium, which give this spiral bacterium (spirochete) a unique cellular morphology, and mode of motility. Credit: CDC.

A photomicrograph of a whole mount of virulent T. pallidum. This microscopic bacterium (spirochete) is a worm-like spiral-shaped organism that wiggles vigorously when viewed under a microscope. Credit: CDC.

This schematic drawing identifies the structures located at one end of the T. pallidum bacterium. A spirochete, this bacterium is responsible for the sexually transmitted disease, syphilis. Credit: CDC.

T. pallidum, a spirochete 5-15 micrometers in length, is the causative agent of syphilis. The rate of primary and secondary syphilis in the U.S. declined by 89.2 percent from 1990 to 2000. However, cases rose from 5,979 in 2000 to 6,103 in 2001. Credit: CDC.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Health

Each spirochete divides into two cells after 12 to 24 hours of elongation. (references)

This means that the Lyme disease bacteria can live and grow within these hosts without causing them to die. Larvae and nymph ticks typically become infected with the Lyme disease spirochete, B. burgdorferi, when they feed on small animals that carry the bacteria in spring and summer. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expression using "spirochete": lime disease spirochete. Additional references.

Dutch

spirocheet. (various references)

French

spirochète (spirochaete). (various references)

Italian

spirocheta (Spirochaeta). (various references)

Pig Latin

irochetespay

Russian 

спирохета (spirochaete). (various references)

Spanish

espiroqueta (spirochaete). (various references)

speira. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "spirochete": spirochetes. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Spirochete" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: spirchete, spirochaete, spirochate, spirochet. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-2 letters: cheerios, chestier, coteries, crepiest, esoteric, heretics, herpetic, isothere, picotees, pitchers, poetiser, poetries, postiche, potiches, receipts, recopies, sheepcot, strophic, theories, theorise, trochees, trophies.

-3 letters: ceriphs, cerites, cheerio, cheeros, ciphers, cithers, coesite, coheirs, coheres, copiers, copters, coterie, echoers, erethic, erotics, etchers, etheric, hectors, heister, heptose, heretic, heriots, heroics, heteros, hipster, hoister, hospice, ophites, ostrich.

+1 letter: helicopters, spirochaete, spirochetes.

+2 letters: apothecaries, executorship, spirochaetes, stereophonic.

+3 letters: cryotherapies, electrophiles, executorships, nephrectomies, picturephones, precentorship, preceptorship, psychometries, spirochetoses, stereographic, terpsichorean, thermospheric.

+4 letters: asthenospheric, bacteriophages, cephalometries, chemotherapies, chemotherapist, dryopithecines, hypersecretion, magnetospheric, nephrectomizes, oophorectomies, petrochemicals, petrochemistry, precentorships, preceptorships, psychrometries.

+5 letters: archiepiscopate, bacteriophagies, chemoreceptions, chemotherapists, chronotherapies, cyproheptadines, electrophoresis, hyperexcretions, hypersecretions, hypertonicities, hypervelocities, parthenocarpies, phosphocreatine, photoreceptions, psychotherapies, spectrographies.