Spirochaetes

SPIROCHAETES
INTRODUCTION
Elongated, motile, flexible bacteria twisted spirally along
the long axis are termed ‘spirochetes’ (from Speira,
meaning coil and chaite, meaning hair).
 Two families:
(1) Spirochaetaceae
Anaerobic, facultative anaerobic or microaerophilic and
not hooked.
Includes the genera Treponema and Borrelia
(2) Leptospiraceae
hooked and obligate aerobic spirochaetes.
Genus Leptospira is included in this family
Spirochetes have gram-negative - composed of an outer
membrane, a peptidoglycan layer and a cytoplasmic
membrane.
A characteristic feature is the presence of varying
number of endoflagella.
Sometimes called axial filaments - which run lengthwise
between the bacterial inner membrane and outer
membrane ie in the periplasmic space.
Disease-causing members / pathogenic to humans are
Leptospira sps, Treponema sps and Borrelia sps.
GENUS TREPONEMA
Treponemes are relatively short slender spirochetes with
fine spirals and pointed or rounded ends.
Treponemes cause the following diseases in humans:
1. Venereal syphilis caused by T pallidum.
2. Endemic syphilis caused by T endemicum.
 3. Yaws caused by T pertenue.
4. Pinta caused by T carateum.
Treponema pallidum
It is thin, delicate, spiral filament with pointed and
tapering ends - has 6-12 coils which are small, sharp and
regular.
 T pallidum cannot be seen under the light microscope -
morphology and motility can be seen under the dark
ground or phase contrast microscope.
It cannot be stained by ordinary bacterial stains, but can
be stained by silver impregnation methods, Fontana’s
method, Levaditi’s method & Giemsa staining.
Pathogenic treponemes cannot be grown in artificial
culture media but are maintained by subculture in
susceptible animals
Diseases
Treponema pallidum cause STD - syphilis which is
acquired by sexual contact.
Other modes of transmission includes blood borne
infections, congenital(from mother to child) and
occupational.
Incubation period ranges from 10 to 90 days.
The clinical manifestations fall into three stages- primary,
secondary and tertiary.
The primary stage is characterized by a hard,
circumscribed, chancre, which is usually genital.
Secondary syphilis sets in 1-3 months after the primary
lesion heals. Roseolar or popular skin rashes, mucous
patches in the oropharynx and condylomata at the muco-
cutaneous junctions are the characteristic lesions.
This may be followed by natural cure or in some cases by
manifestations of tertiary syphilis. These include
cardiovascular lesions including aneurysms, chronic
granulomata (gummata) and meningovascular
manifestations.
Congenital Syphilis
In utero infections can lead to serious fetal disease,
resulting in latent infections, multiorgan malformations,
or death of the fetus.
Laboratory Diagnosis - consists of demonstration of the
spirochetes under the microscope and of antibodies in
serum or CSF.
Specimens should be collected with utmost care as the
lesions are highly infectious.
(i) Microscopy
(a) Dark ground microscopy: Diagnosis by microscopy is
applicable in primary and secondary stages.
T pallidum is identified by its slender spiral structure and
slow movement in dark ground illumination.
Smears can be stained by silver impregnation method
and visualized under light microscope.
(b) Direct fluorescent-antibody staining for T pallidum
(DFA-Tp): The smear to be tested is stained with
fluorescein-labelled pathogen specific monoclonal
antibody. The treponemes appear distinct, sharply
outlined and have apple green fluorescence.
Serological tests
Divided into non-treponemal tests (non-specific/standard
test for syphilis) and treponemal tests.
Non-treponemal tests/ standard tests for syphilis(STS):
These tests are used as screening tests. Reagin antibodies
are detected by cardiolipin antigen. (Cardiolipin antigen is
an alcoholic extract of beef heart tissue to which lecithin
and cholesterol are added.)
Non-treponemal tests include
 Venereal Diseases Research Laboratory (VDRL)
Rapid Plasma Reagin test(RPR)
Toluidine Blue Unheated Serum Test(TRUST)
Wassermann complement fixation test
 Kahn tube flocculation test
The Wassermann reaction and the kahn test are now
replaced by the VDRL test.
VDRL : is the most widely used simple and rapid test.
 It is performed as a slide flocculation test - inactivated
patient serum is mixed with freshly prepared suspension
of cardiolipin-cholesterol-lecithin antigen on a glass slide.
The result is read under low power objective of
microscope.
Formation of visible clumps or floccules is taken as
positive reaction.
The test is performed both as qualitative and quantitative
assay.
VDRL test can be used for testing CSF also but not
plasma.
The major disadvantages of the VDRL test are the need to
prepare fresh antigen each day and to use microscope to
read the results.
RPR test now replaced all other tests- employs a stabilized
carbon coated cardiolipin antigen. This test does not require

heat inactivation of patient’s serum and can be read by
naked eye.
TRUST is similar to RPR with an added advantage of storage
at room temperature.
The major disadvantage of standard test for syphilis is the
biological false positive reactions(BFP), because of sharing

of cardiolipin antigen of T pallidum and mammalian tissues.
Treponemal tests for syphilis:
 Tests using cultivable treponemes:
1. RPCF (Reiter protein complement fixation test)
2. Tests using pathogenic treponemes:
(i) Treponema pallidum immobilization test
(ii) Treponema pallidum agglutination test
(iii) Treponema pallidum immune adherence (TPIA) test
(iv) Fluorescent treponemal antibody test (FTA)
(v) Treponema pallidum haemagglutination test (TPHA)
(vi) Enzyme immunoassay (EIA)
BORRELIA
Borrelia are large, motile, refractile spirochetes with
irregular, wide, open coils.
They are motile and are readily stained by ordinary stains
and are gram negative.
 A number of species, although fastidious, can be
cultured.
These are transmitted to vertebrate hosts by
haematophagous arthropods.
Important pathogenic species of Borrelia include: B
recurrentis (relapsing fever), B burdorferi (lyme disease)
and B vincenti (Vincent’s angina).
LEPTOSPIRA
Leptospires are actively motile, delicate spirochetes,
possessing a large number of fine and tightly coiled
spirals and hooked ends like umbrella handles.
Cannot be seen under the light microscope.
Stain poorly with aniline dyes. Stained with Giemsa stain
and silver impregnation methods.
The genus Leptospira is classified into two species:
L. interrogans containing pathogenic leptospires
L. biflexa containing saprophytic leptospires found
predominantly in surface waters
Leptospires are obligate aerobes.
Several liquid and semi-solid media, such as Korthof’s, Stuart’s
and Fletcher’s media have been used.
Semisynthetic media such as EMJH (Ellinghausen,
McCullough, Johnson and Harris) now commonly used.
PATHOGENICITY
L. interrogans causes a zoonotic disease, transmitted to
humans by direct or indirect contact with water contaminated
by urine of carrier animals – enters through cuts or abrasions
on the skin or through mucosa of mouth, nose or conjunctiva.
Incubation period : 2-26 days.
 Leptospirosis can be in the form of a mild febrile illness or
sometimes severe illness with hepatorenal damage, known as
Weil’s disease.
In severe case onset is acute with rigor, vomiting,
headache and intense infection of eyes.
Fever is irregular and usually subsides in ten days.
Jaundice, purpuric haemorrhage occurs on the skin and
mucosa.
Albuminuria is a constant feature.
Now leptospirosis classified into 2 clinical types – Icteric
and nonicteric.
Diagnosis of Leptopirosis can be done by direct
microscopic examination of blood and urine.
Serological tests used for diagnosis can be genus specific
(complement fixation test, haemagglutination test, ELISA,
etc) or serotype specific (microscopic and macroscopic
agglutination test).

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SPIROCHAETES

carbon coated cardiolipin antigen. This test does not require

biological false positive reactions(BFP), because of sharing

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