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rickettsia
[ ri-ket-see-uh ]
noun
, plural rick·ett·si·ae [ri-, ket, -see-ee], rick·ett·si·as [ri-, ket, -see-, uh, z].
- any member of the genus Rickettsia, comprising rod-shaped to coccoid microorganisms that resemble bacteria but can be as small as a large virus and reproduce only inside a living cell, parasitic in fleas, ticks, lice, and mites and transmitted by bite to vertebrate hosts, including humans, causing such severe diseases as typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
- any rickettsia or rickettsialike microorganism of the orders Rickettsiales and Chlamydiales.
rickettsia
/ rɪˈkɛtsɪə /
noun
- any of a group of parasitic bacteria that live in the tissues of ticks, mites, and other arthropods, and cause disease when transmitted to man and other animals
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Derived Forms
- rickˈettsial, adjective
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Other Words From
- rick·ettsi·al adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of rickettsia1
1915–20; < New Latin, after Howard T. Ricketts (1871–1910), U.S. pathologist; -ia
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Word History and Origins
Origin of rickettsia1
C20: named after Howard T. Ricketts (1871–1910), US pathologist
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