How do you write Treponema pallidum?

How do you write Treponema pallidum?

Treponema pallidum is a spirochaete bacterium with various subspecies that cause the diseases syphilis, bejel, and yaws. It is transmitted only amongst humans. It is a helically coiled microorganism usually 6–15 μm long and 0.1–0.2 μm wide.

What are the characteristics of Treponema pallidum?

Treponema pallidum subsp pallidum is a fastidious organism that exhibits narrow optimal ranges of pH (7.2 to 7.4), Eh (—230 to—240 mV), and temperature (30 to 37°C). It is rapidly inactivated by mild heat, cold, desiccation, and most disinfectants.

What is the meaning of Treponema pallidum?

Treponema pallidum is the causative organism of syphilis. It is a motile spirochete that is generally acquired by close sexual contact and which enters host tissue by breaches in squamous or columnar epithelium.

How do you identify Treponema pallidum?

Positive nontreponemal results should be followed with a treponemal assay, such as the T. pallidum particle agglutination (TP-PA) assay, for confirmation. Nontreponemal tests include rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) tests. Both RPR and VDRL can be qualitative or quantitative.

What disease is caused by Treponema pallidum?

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. Syphilis can cause serious health sequelae if not adequately treated.

What kills Treponema pallidum?

Penicillin, the first antibiotic developed, was the first known effective antibiotic for T. pallidum and remains the treatment of choice today (12, 30, 94). The maximally treponemicidal serum concentration of penicillin is 0.36 µg/ml which can kill the organism in 6 to 9 hours (27).

What is the classification of Treponema pallidum?

Data Quality Indicators:

Class Spirochaetes Cavalier-Smith, 2002
Order Spirochaetales Buchanan, 1917
Family Spirochaetaceae Swellengrebel, 1907
Genus Treponema Schaudinn, 1905
Species Treponema pallidum (Schaudinn and Hoffmann, 1905) Schaudinn, 1905

What is a syphilis titer?

A titer is a measure of the amount of antibody formed in response to syphilis. • Titers decline after proper treatment over a period of months to years.

Where can Treponema pallidum be found in the body?

In the skin, T. pallidum is found in the dermal-epidermal junction zone or throughout the dermis (28). Up to 40% of patients in primary and secondary syphilis have evidence of CNS invasion, including the eye, as evidenced by either abnormal laboratory tests or direct culture of the treponemes in laboratory animals.

What is the size of Treponema pallidum?

T. pallidum is a Gram-negative, spiral shaped bacterium 6 to 15 μm in length and 0.2 μm in diameter.

How is Treponema pallidum transmitted from person to person?

The skin lesions are highly infectious, and the spirochetes in the lesions are transmitted by direct contact. The lesions regress as the immune response develops against T. pallidum. The latent stage that results lasts a lifetime in many cases.

When was the Treponema pallidum subspecies sequenced?

T. pallidum subspecies pallidum was sequenced in 1998. This sequencing is significant due to T. pallidum not being capable of growing in a pure culture, meaning that this sequencing played an important role in understanding the microbe’s functions.

Why is T pallidum strain 14 resistant to erythromycin?

The T. pallidum strain 14 has built resistance to some macrolides, including erythromycin and azithromycin. Resistance to macrolides in T. Pallidum strain 14 is believed to derive from a single point mutation that increased the organism’s livability.