| Species/Subspecies: | Neisseria gonorrhoeae | ||||||||
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| Category: | Primarily of interest in human medicin | ||||||||
| Etymology: | Genus name: Named after Albert Neisser, who discovered the agent of gonorrhea in pus from a patient in year 1889. Species epithet: of gonorré. | ||||||||
| Significance: | [Very important] | ||||||||
| Taxonomy: | Class Betaproteobacteria Order Neisseriales Family Neisseriaceae Genus Neisseria |
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| Type Strain: | ATCC 19424 = CCUG 26876 = NCTC 8375. | ||||||||
| Macromorphology (smell): | |||||||||
| Micromorphology: | Nonmotile cocci (0.6-1.0 µm in diameter), which often appear in pairs (diplococci), in the shape of coffee beans. | ||||||||
| Gram +/Gram -: | G- | ||||||||
| Metabolism: | Aerobic | ||||||||
| Catalase/Oxidase: | +/+ | ||||||||
| Other Enzymes: | Tryptophanase - | ||||||||
| Fermentation of carbohydrates: | D-glucose + lactose - maltose - L-rhamnose ? sucrose - L-arabinose ? cellobiose ? D-mannitol ? salicin ? trehalose ? glycerol ? inulin ? raffinose ? D-sorbitol ? starch ? Other carbohydrates: Fructose -, mannose -. |
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| Spec. Char.: | |||||||||
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| Disease: | Gonorrhea |
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| Hosts: | Man | ||||||||
| Clinical Picture: | Yellowish and smelly discharge as well as pain during urination. You may also get have pain in the throat. The incubation period is about one week.
Untreated gonorrhea can result in very serious complications. | ||||||||
| Genome Sequence: |
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| 16S rRNA Seq.: |
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| Taxonomy/phylogeny:
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About 30 species have been described within genus Neisseria, which is related to the generaBurkholderia and Taylorella. | ||||||||
| Legislation: | In Sweden you are, according to the Infectious Diseases Act, obliged to seek immediate medical attention if you suspect that you have been infected by gonorrhea. | ||||||||
| Comment: | Trivial name: Gonococcus
N. gonorrhoeae often develops resistance to a particular antibioticum a few years after this antibioticum was first used for gonorrhea therapy. Some N. gonorrhoeae strains exhibit both chromosomal and plasmid born mechanisms of resistance to penicillin, tetracycline, spectinomycin and fluoroquinolones as well as penicillin and tetracycline, respectively. Such strains have been found in, among other countries, France, Japan and Spain. In Sweden, the resistance problem is regarded as very serious and it is extremely important to warn against the overuse of antibiotics in both human and veterinary medicine. | ||||||||
| Updated: | 2023-03-22 |