Clostridium

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Clostridium is a large genus of Gram-positive bacteria, belonging to the Firmicutes. They are obligate anaerobes capable of producing endospores. Individual cells are rod-shaped, which gives them their name, from the Greek kloster or spindle. These characteristics traditionally defined the genus, but they are not phylogenetically significant, and many species originally classified as Clostridium have been moved elsewhere.

Clostridium includes common free-living bacteria as well as important pathogens. There are four main species responsible for disease in humans:

C. botulinum, an organism producing a toxin in food that causes botulism.
C. difficile, which can overgrow other bacteria in the gut during antibiotic therapy, can cause pseudomembranous colitis.
C. perfringens, causes a wide range of symptoms, from food poisoning to gas gangrene. Also responsible for enterotoxemia (also known as "overeating disease" or "pulpy kidney disease") in sheep and goats.
C. tetani, the causitive organism of tetanus (lockjaw).

Other important species include C. acetobutylicum, also known as the Weizmann organism, which was first used by Chaim Weizmann to produce acetone and biobutanol from starch in 1916 for the production of gunpowder and TNT. C. sordelli has been linked to the deaths of more than a dozen women after childbirth.

Pathogenesis

Clostridium bacteria has been recently discovered as being a pathogen that is capable of infecting dogs. This disease can be fatal. A post-mortem on an individual who has died of Clostridium bacteria will reveal that they have blood-filled lungs or intestines.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

More species:

Clostridium butyricum
Clostridium ctm
Clostridium laramie
Clostridium sporogenes

References

External links

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