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VetBact

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Veterinary bacteriology: information about important bacteria
Veterinary bacteriology


Species/Subspecies: Borrelia anserina
Category: Motile
Etymology: Genus name: named after the French bacteriologist Amédée Borrel (1867-1936).
Species epithet: of geese.
Significance:Fowl spirochetosis, which is considered to be caused by Borrelia anserina, is an important disease in tropical and subtropical areas. The disease is common in Asia and the Middle East where the Argas ticks are found. Outbreaks occur sporadically in south-western USA. The organism has never been isolated from Swedish birds, because the tick vector (Argas spp.) is not present in Northern Europe.
  [Of minor importance]   
Taxonomy:
Phylum
Spirochaetota
Class
Spirochaetia
Order
Spirochaetales
Family
Spirochaetaceae 
Genus
Borrelia
Type Strain: Not designated.
Macromorphology (smell):
Micromorphology:
     
Borrelia spp. have a planar flat-wave morphology. B. anserina is 0.2-0.3 x 8-20 µm in size with 5-8 waves. Has periplasmic flagella (endoflagella or axial filaments) and is very motile.
Gram +/Gram -:G- (but difficult to stain)
Metabolism: Microaerophilic
Catalase/Oxidase:
Spec. Char.:
Vector: Tick (Argas miniatus, A. persica and A. reflexus).
Disease:Fowl spirochetosis or avian borreliosis.
Hosts: Chickens, turkeys, pheasants, geese and ducks.
Clinical Picture: Cyanotic or pale comb and wattles, ruffled feathers, green droppings, inactivity and anorexia. Some of the diseased birds will die. Those that survive will gain life-long immunity.
Genome Sequence:
Acc-noStrainSize (bp)Genome
CP005829 BA2 0 904 790  

16S rRNA Seq.:
Acc-noStrainNumber of NTOperonSequence similarity
U42284 ES-1 1 523 1l + 1l% 

Taxonomy/phylogeny:
 
About 40 species have been described within genus Borrelia and the species that have been included in VetBact form two monophyletic clusters. See the phylogenetic tree )Fig. 208:4.
Comment:B. anserina is typ species for genus Borrelia.
Updated:2023-03-08

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