borrelia

noun

cause of e.g. European and African relapsing fever

• Hypernyms: ↑spirochete, ↑spirochaete

• Member Holonyms: ↑genus Borrelia

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\\bəˈrelēə, -rēl-, -lyə\ noun

Etymology: New Latin, from Amédée Borrel + New Latin -ia

1. capitalized : a genus of small flexible spirochetes (family Treponemataceae) parasitic upon man and warm-blooded animals, having three to five large wavy spirals and a terminal filament, and including several important pathogens (as B. anserina, the cause of septicemia in chickens, B. recurrentis, the cause of European relapsing fever, and B. duttoni, the cause of the relapsing fever of Africa)

2. -s : a spirochete of the genus Borrelia

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/beuh rel"ee euh, -rel"yeuh, -ree"lee euh, -reel"yeuh/, n. Bacteriol.

any of several spiral, parasitic bacteria of the genus Borrelia, certain species of which are pathogenic for humans, other mammals, or birds.

[ < NL (1907), named after Amédée Borrel (d. 1936); see -IA]