- Bordetella
- A genus of strictly aerobic bacteria (family Brucellaceae) containing minute, Gram-negative non–spore bearing, coccobacilli. Motile and nonmotile species occur; motile cells are peritrichous. The metabolism of these organisms is respiratory. They require nicotinic acid, cysteine, and methionine; hemin (X factor) and coenzyme I (V factor) are not required. They are parasites and pathogens of the mammalian respiratory tract; type species is B. pertussis. [J. Bordet]- B. bronchiseptica a bacterial species found in a broad range of animal species, causing atrophic rhinitis of swine, bronchopneumonia in rodents, and a highly contagious bronchopneumonia in dogs. It is a rare cause of opportunistic respiratory tract infection in immunocomprimised patients.- B. hinzii a newly described bacterial species isolated from a few human blood cultures and respiratory secretions, as well as from poultry respiratory secretions.- B. holmesii a newly described bacterial species isolated from human blood cultures, primarily from mmunocompromised patients.- B. parapertussis a bacterial species that causes a whooping cough-like disease, usually milder than that seen with B. pertussis.- B. pertussis the bacterial species that is the causative agent of whooping cough, a respiratory tract infection that in infants and young children may be life-threatening; the severe cough, progressing to a paroxysmal form after 7–10 days, is associated with production of pertussis toxin, a protein consisting of 5 B subunits that bind the molecule to respiratory epithelial cells, and an A subunit, an ADP-ribosyl-transferase that interferes with proteins associated with normal signal transduction; pathology is also associated with heavy mucous secretion and hypoxia due to paroxysmal coughing and to blockage of air passages with mucus. SYN: Bordet-Gengou bacillus.
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Bor·de·tel·la .bȯrd-ə-'tel-ə n a genus of bacteria comprising very short gram-negative strictly aerobic coccuslike bacilli and including the causative agent (B. pertussis) of whooping cough J.-J.-B.-V. Bordet see BORDET-GENGOU* * *
n.a genus of tiny Gram-negative aerobic bacteria. B. pertussis causes whooping cough, and all the other species are able to break down red blood cells and cause diseases resembling whooping cough.* * *
Bor·de·tel·la (bor″də-telґə) [J.J.B.V. Bordet] a genus of gram-negative, aerobic, minute coccobacilli of the family Alcaligenaceae. It is made up of organisms that are parasites and pathogens of the respiratory tract and produce a toxin that causes necrosis of the skin.
Medical dictionary. 2011.