Bordetella pertussis

A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Bordetella pertussis

Classification

Higher order taxa

Kingdom: Bacteria

Phylum: Proteobacteria

Class: Betaproteobacteria

Order: Burkholderiales

Family: Alcaligenaceae

Genus: Bordetella

Species: B. pertussis

Species

Bordetella pertussis

Other Names: “Haemophilus pertussis” (Pribram 1933) “Bacterium tussis-convulsivae” (Lehmann and Neumann 1927) "Hemophilus pertussis" (Bergey et al. 1923), and "Microbe de la coqueluche" Bordet and Gengou 1906. [10]

NCBI: Taxonomy

Description and significance

Bordetella pertussis is a small, Gram-negative, coccoid bacterium about the size of 0.8 µm by 0.4 µm. It is an encapsulated immotile aerobe that does not make spores. Bordetella pertussis produces a number of virulence factors, including pertussis toxin, adenylate cyclase toxin, filamentous hemagglutinin, and hemolysin. It cannot survive in the environment; it must reside in a host either in small groups or singly. It grows at an optimal temperature of 35-37ºC. [1]

Bordetella pertussis is a strict human pathogen that is the causative agent of pertussis (whooping cough). Its natural habitat is in the human respiratory mucosa. Whooping Cough, or pertussis, is a respiratory infection in which a “whooping” sound is produced when the sufferer breathes. Pertussis kills an estimated 300,000 children annually, most of which occur in developing countries. [6]

References

Edited by Linda Wang a student of Rachel Larsen and Kit Pogliano