| Species/Subspecies: | Borrelia anserina | ||||||||||
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| 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] |
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| Taxonomy: | Class Spirochaetia Order Spirochaetales Family Spirochaetaceae Genus Borrelia |
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| 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.: | |||||||||||
| Special Media: | |||||||||||
| Vector: | Tick (Argas miniatus, A. persica and A. reflexus). | ||||||||||
| Disease: | Fowl spirochetosis or avian borreliosis. |
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| 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: |
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| 16S rRNA Seq.: |
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| Taxonomy/phylogeny:
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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 |