Brachyspira pilosicoli is a gram-negative spiral-shaped obligate anaerobe bacterium. It is a member of the Spirochaetes family. The bacterium is loosely coiled and is 6-11µm long. It has several flagellae

Flagellum

A flagellum is a tail-like projection that protrudes from the cell body of certain prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, and plays the dual role of locomotion and sense organ, being sensitive to chemicals and temperatures outside the cell. There are some notable differences between prokaryotic and...

, inserted at either pole of the cell, and a lipopolysaccharide cell wall

Bacterial cell structure

Bacteria, despite their simplicity, contain a well-developed cell structure which is responsible for many of their unique biological properties. Many structural features are unique to bacteria and are not found among archaea or eukaryotes...

. It causes intestinal spirochaetosis in pigs

Porcine intestinal spirochaetosis

-Introduction:Porcine intestinal spirochaetosis is a notifiable pig disease caused by the bacterium Brachyspira pilosicoli. Infection causes mild gastrointestinal signs in young pigs and intestinal spirochetosis in humans, as it is a zoonosis.The disease is widespread in pig-rearing countries and...

, but its has also been isolated from dogs, birds and mice. It causes zoonotic infection in humans, with infection thought to originate from dogs.

Lifecycle and pathogenesis

Infection of B.pilosicoli is acquired the oro-fecal route

Fecal-oral route

The fecal-oral route, or alternatively, the oral-fecal route or orofecal route is a route of transmission of diseases, in which they are passed when pathogens in fecal particles from one host are introduced into the oral cavity of another potential host.There are usually intermediate steps,...

. Once in the alimentary tract, the bacterium invades its target cells in the large intestine

Large intestine

The large intestine is the third-to-last part of the digestive system — — in vertebrate animals. Its function is to absorb water from the remaining indigestible food matter, and then to pass useless waste material from the body...

 - causing oedema, haemorrhage and the infiltration by inflammatory cells. The consequences of this are the sloughing of cells into the intestinal lumen, malabsorption

Malabsorption

Malabsorption is a state arising from abnormality in absorption of food nutrients across the gastrointestinal tract.Impairment can be of single or multiple nutrients depending on the abnormality...

 and secretory diarrhoea.

Diseases

B. pilosicoli is the cause of porcine intestinal spirochaetosis. The presence of the spirochaetes in grey-pink diarrhoea is diagnostic.

See also

• Porcine intestinal spirochaetosis
  Porcine intestinal spirochaetosis
  -Introduction:Porcine intestinal spirochaetosis is a notifiable pig disease caused by the bacterium Brachyspira pilosicoli. Infection causes mild gastrointestinal signs in young pigs and intestinal spirochetosis in humans, as it is a zoonosis.The disease is widespread in pig-rearing countries and...
  
  
• Intestinal spirochetosis
  Intestinal spirochetosis
  Intestinal spirochetosis, also intestinal spirochetes, colonic spirochetosis and colonic spirochetes, is an infection of the colonic-type mucosa with spirochete microorganisms.-Symptoms:...
  
  
• Spirochaete
  Spirochaete
  Spirochaetes belong to a phylum of distinctive Gram-negative bacteria, which have long, helically coiled cells...
  
  
• Brachyspiraceae
  Brachyspiraceae
  Brachyspiraceae is a family of spirochaetes.Spirochetosis of the appendix, caused by Brachyspira aalborgi, can present as acute appendicitis. One study showed spirochetosis in 0.7% of all appendicies removed for clinical acute appendicitis....