Yersinia pestis is a gram-negative, non-motile, coccobacillus bacterium without spores that is related to both Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Yersinia enterocolitica. It is a facultative anaerobic organism that can infect humans via the Oriental rat flea. It causes the disease plague, which caused the first plague pandemic and the Black Death, the deadliest pandemic in recorded history. Plague takes three main forms: pneumonic, septicemic, and bubonic. Yersinia pestis is a parasite of its host, the rat flea, which is also a parasite of rats, hence Y. pestis is a hyperparasite.
Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, is inflammation of the outermost layer of the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelid. It makes the eye appear pink or reddish. Pain, burning, scratchiness, or itchiness may occur. The affected eye may have increased tears or be "stuck shut" in the morning. Swelling of the white part of the eye may also occur. Itching is more common in cases due to allergies. Conjunctivitis can affect one or both eyes.
Fire blight, also written fireblight, is a contagious disease affecting apples, pears, and some other members of the family Rosaceae. It is a serious concern to apple and pear producers. Under optimal conditions, it can destroy an entire orchard in a single growing season.
Clostridium perfringens is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming pathogenic bacterium of the genus Clostridium. C. perfringens is ever-present in nature and can be found as a normal component of decaying vegetation, marine sediment, the intestinal tract of humans and other vertebrates, insects, and soil. It has the shortest reported generation time of any organism at 6.3 minutes in thioglycolate medium.
Foodborne illness is any illness resulting from the spoilage of contaminated food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that contaminate food, as well as prions, and toxins such as aflatoxins in peanuts, poisonous mushrooms, and various species of beans that have not been boiled for at least 10 minutes.
Bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) affects cucurbit plants around the world and can be a serious threat to farmers because it spreads through contaminated seed. BFB is the result of an infection by Gram-negative Acidovorax citrulli bacteria, which has only been recently studied in detail. Members of A. citrulli are Gram-negative rod shaped bacteria with the dimensions 0.5× 1.7 μm. They move via polar flagella. No known reliable sources of BFB resistance exist today, so seed hygiene and thorough testing of breeding facilities are the best way to control spreading. No known control methods, however, are extremely reliable for reducing BFB infection.
Neisseria meningitidis, often referred to as meningococcus, is a Gram-negative bacterium that can cause meningitis and other forms of meningococcal disease such as meningococcemia, a life-threatening sepsis. The bacterium is referred to as a coccus because it is round, and more specifically a diplococcus because of its tendency to form pairs.
Citrus canker is a disease affecting Citrus species caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas. Infection causes lesions on the leaves, stems, and fruit of citrus trees, including lime, oranges, and grapefruit. While not harmful to humans, canker significantly affects the vitality of citrus trees, causing leaves and fruit to drop prematurely; a fruit infected with canker is safe to eat, but too unsightly to be sold.
Streptococcus suis is a peanut-shaped, Gram-positive bacterium, and an important pathogen of pigs. Endemic in nearly all countries with an extensive pig industry, S. suis is also a zoonotic disease, capable of transmission to humans from pigs.
Meningococcal disease describes infections caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis. It has a high mortality rate if untreated but is vaccine-preventable. While best known as a cause of meningitis, it can also result in sepsis, which is an even more damaging and dangerous condition. Meningitis and meningococcemia are major causes of illness, death, and disability in both developed and under-developed countries.
Xylella fastidiosa is an aerobic, Gram-negative bacterium of the genus Xylella. It is a plant pathogen, that grows in the water transport tissues of plants and is transmitted exclusively by xylem sap-feeding insects such as sharpshooters and spittlebugs. Many plant diseases are due to infections of X. fastidiosa, including bacterial leaf scorch, oleander leaf scorch, coffee leaf scorch (CLS), alfalfa dwarf, phony peach disease, and the economically important Pierce's disease of grapes (PD), olive quick decline syndrome (OQDS), and citrus variegated chlorosis (CVC). While the largest outbreaks of X. fastidiosa–related diseases have occurred in the Americas and Europe, this pathogen has also been found in Taiwan, Israel, and a few other countries worldwide.
Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida is a gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium that causes disease in fish.
Pseudomonas viridiflava is a fluorescent, Gram-negative, soil bacterium that is pathogenic to plants. It was originally isolated from the dwarf or runner bean, in Switzerland. Based on 16S rRNA analysis, P. viridiflava has been placed in the P. syringae group. Following ribotypical analysis misidentified strains of Pseudomonas syringae pv. ribicola and Pseudomonas syringae pv. primulae were incorporated into this species. This pathogen causes bacterial blight of Kiwifruit.
Enterobacter cloacae is a clinically significant Gram-negative, facultatively-anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium.
Xanthomonas arboricola is a species of bacteria. This phytopathogenic bacterium can cause disease in trees like Prunus, hazelnut and walnut.
The seventh cholera pandemic is the seventh major outbreak of cholera and occurred principally from the years 1961 to 1975; but the strain involved persists to the present. WHO and some other authorities believe this should be considered as an ongoing pandemic. As stated in its cholera factsheet dated 30 March 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) continues to define this outbreak as a current pandemic, and with cholera having become endemic in many countries. In 2017, WHO announced a global strategy aiming to end this pandemic by 2030.
Escherichia coli is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms (endotherms). Most E. coli strains are harmless, but pathogenic varieties cause serious food poisoning, septic shock, meningitis, or urinary tract infections in humans. Unlike normal flora E. coli, the pathogenic varieties produce toxins and other virulence factors that enable them to reside in parts of the body normally not inhabited by E. coli, and to damage host cells. These pathogenic traits are encoded by virulence genes carried only by the pathogens.
Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) also known as Marrow mosaic virus, Melon mosaic virus, and until recently Watermelon mosaic virus type 2 (WMV-2), is a plant pathogenic virus that causes viral infection in many different plants. The virus itself is referred to as Watermelon Mosaic Virus II or WMV-2 and is an isolate of the U.S. WMV-2 is a ssRNA positive strand virus that is part of the Potyviridae or Potyvirus clade. Like all RNA viruses, it contains a protein capsid which protects the inner viral RNA. First described on squash in Florida, WMV arose from a unique recombination of genetic material contributed by Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) and Bean common mosaic virus (BCMV) along with Peanut Stripe virus (PSV).
Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria is a bacterium that causes bacterial leaf spot (BLS) on peppers and tomatoes. It is a gram-negative and rod-shaped. It causes symptoms throughout the above-ground portion of the plant including leaf spots, fruit spots and stem cankers. Since this bacterium cannot live in soil for more than a few weeks and survives as inoculum on plant debris, removal of dead plant material and chemical applications to living plants are considered effective control mechanisms.
Acidovorax oryzae is a bacterium from the Comamonadaceae family which is closely related to Acidovorax citrulli. Acidovorax oryzae was reclassificated from the former name Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae. It has been shown that Acidovorax oryzae is serious pathogen fore rice.
