A genus of anaerobic bacteria (order Spirochaetales) consisting of cells, 3–8 μm in length, with acute, regular, or irregular spirals and no obvious protoplasmic structure. A terminal filament may be present. They stain with difficulty except with Giemsa stain or silver impregnation. Some species are pathogenic and parasitic for humans and other animals, generally producing local lesions in tissues. The type species is T. pallidum. [G. trepo, to turn, + nema, thread]
- T. denticola cultivatable bacterial species that does not ferment carbohydrates and can be isolated from the oral cavity of humans.
- T. pallidum a bacterial species that causes syphilis in humans; this organism can be experimentally transmitted to anthropoid apes and to rabbits; it is the type species of the genus T..
- T. pertenue a bacterial species that causes yaws; patients with this disease give positive results in serologic screening tests for syphilis.
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trep·o·ne·ma .trep-ə-'nē-mə n
1) cap a genus of the family Spirochaetaceae comprising anaerobic spirochetes that are pathogenic in humans and other warm-blooded animals and include one (T. pallidum) causing syphilis and another (T. pertenue) causing yaws
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n.
a genus of anaerobic spirochaete bacteria. All species are parasitic and some cause disease in animals and humans: T. carateum causes pinta, T. pallidum syphilis, and T. pertenue yaws.
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Trep·o·ne·ma (trep″o-neґmə) [trepo- + Gr. nēma thread] a genus of gram-negative bacteria of the family Spirochaetaceae, consisting of microaerophilic, spiral microorganisms that exhibit motility with a flexing, bending, snapping motion and divide by transverse fission. The outer surfaces have polar flagella that wind around the organism. They are found in the oral, intestinal, and genital mucosa. Pathogenic species, which cause syphilis, yaws, and pinta, have not been cultured in vitro.Medical dictionary. 2011.