''Spirillum minus'' is an organism associated with
rat-bite fever
Rat-bite fever (RBF) is an acute, febrile human illness caused by bacteria transmitted by rodents, in most cases, which is passed from rodent to human by the rodent's urine or mucous secretions. Alternative names for rat-bite fever include stre ...
(specifically
sodoku
Sodoku (鼠毒) is a bacterial zoonotic disease. It is caused by the Gram-negative rod ''Spirillum minus'' (also known as ''Spirillum minor''). It is a form of rat-bite fever (RBF).
Signs and symptoms
The initial scratch or wound caused by a bit ...
)
that has never been fully identified and was assigned to the genus ''
Spirillum
''Spirillum'' is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria in the family '' Spirillaceae'' of the '' Nitrosomonadales'' of the ''Betaproteobacteria''.Garrity, George M.; Brenner, Don J.; Krieg, Noel R.; Staley, James T. (eds.) (2005). Bergey's Manual o ...
'' in 1887 based on morphology, although it is not a validly published name. As ''
Spirillum
''Spirillum'' is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria in the family '' Spirillaceae'' of the '' Nitrosomonadales'' of the ''Betaproteobacteria''.Garrity, George M.; Brenner, Don J.; Krieg, Noel R.; Staley, James T. (eds.) (2005). Bergey's Manual o ...
'' species generally obligately
microaerophiles and are not found in mammals, this organism may be misclassified. Sequencing data should help to resolve this question.
This organism is presumed to be a bacterium. It stains
gram-negative
Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. They are characterized by their cell envelopes, which are composed of a thin peptidoglycan cell wall ...
and has a coiled rod shape. It does not grow ''in vitro'', and requires inoculation in animals for growth. No attempts to sequence the organism are known as of 2015.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7577829
Nitrosomonadales