Tropheryma whippelei

Hello.
My name is T. whippelei.
I'm very mysterious, I don't tell anyone how I get into people.
I'm also very rare.
I like infecting older men.

I mostly infect your intestines.
When I'm there, I stop you getting nutrients from food.
You get fever, weight loss, diarrhoea and cramps.
I also get into the rest of your body, into your heart, lungs, skin, and nerves.

A word from the zoo keeper..

That about wraps up bacteria, folks.
If there was a species you were waiting out for but didn't see, let me know and I'll do my best to convince them to drop by.
Stay tuned over the next few days for the start of the next group of little critters...

Viruses

Again, let me know if there is anything special you want to see and I'll try put it on my list.
Enjoy!

Francisella tularensis

Hi, I'm F. tularensis.
I'm a Gram Negative bacteria.
I'm carried on deer flies and ticks.
I live mostly in rabbits.

I cause tularaemia, also called Rabbit fever.
I have 6 different ways of hurting you
My ulceroglandular type gets lymph nodes gives you an ulcer around the bite.
My glandular type causes fever and lymph problems, without the ulcer.
You get conjunctivitis with my oculoglandular type.
My oropharyngeal type gives you a sore throat.
I get into your lungs with my pleuropulmonary type.
My typhoidal type infects your whole body.

Leptospira interrogans

Hi there.
I'm L. interrogans.
I'm a spirochete bacteria.
My favourite place to live is in drinking water, which I get into through animal urine.

I cause leptospirosis.
My disease has 2 stages.
First I'll give you a high fever, headache and muscle ache.
Later, I can give you meningitis, rash and jaundice.
If the second part gets very bad, it is called Weil's disease.

Borrelia burgdorferi

Hello.
My name is B. burgdorferi.
I am a Gram Negative spirochete like my cousin B. recurrentis.
I'm carried by ticks, especially hard bodied ticks.

I cause borreliosis, or Lyme disease.
You may get rash, fever, muscle pain or headache.
Sometimes I can affect your nerves.

Borrelia recurrentis

Hello! Hello! Hello!
I'm B. recurrentis.
I'm also a spirochete bacteria.
I'm carried by the common body louse.

I cause louse-borne relapsing fever.
I cause fever, shaking, delirium and muscle ache.
I make you sick for a few days and go away.
Then I come back again for a while.
I come back over and over again, sometimes for weeks.

Treponema pallidum

Hello there.
My name is T. pallidum.
I am a spirochete, which is a spiraling bacteria.
I am a sexually transmitted infection.

My primary stage gives you painless "chancres" and lymph node enlargement.
My secondary stage causes rash, flu-like feelings and special warts called 'condylomata lata'
Then I stay latent for years.

Later I can affect your heart and arteries.
I can also hurt your nerves and brain, or cause 'gummas' lesions around your bones and body.

I can cause a shaking that is called 'paralytic dementia', but used to be called 'general paresis of the insane'.

Bacteroides fragilis

Hello, my name is B. fragilis.
I'm a Gram Negative rod shaped bacteria.
I am anaerobic, because I don't grow in normal laboratory air.
I have to be collected in a special air-tight container.

I live in healthy peoples digestive tracts and women's reproductive tracts.
I cause trouble when I get into parts of the body that I'm not supposed to be.
I cause abscesses and trauma infections almost anywhere.

Chlamydophila psittaci

Well hello.
My name is C. psittaci.
Like my cousin C. trachomatis, I'm tiny!
I also have both elementary and initial bodies.

You can get me if you spend a lot of time around birds.
I cause a lung infection called psittacosis.
I start out looking like flu, with fever and a sore throat.
Later I grow and look like pneumonia.

Chlamydia trachomatis

Hi there, I'm C. trachomatis.
I'm very small and sometimes called a parasite.
I move between cells as a tough 'elementary body', but once I'm inside I become an 'initial body'.

I really like hanging out in the eyes and genitals.
My disease chlamydia is the most common STI in the world!
It can become pelvic inflammatory disease and make women infertile.
I also cause lymphogranuloma venereum, a tropical STI.

I cause trachoma in your eyes, which slowly makes you blind.
I also cause conjunctivitis and pneumonia in babies.

Mycobacterium vaccae

Hello.
My name is M. vaccae.
I'm an acid fast bacteria like my cousins.
I live in the soil.

When I'm around, some people make more serotonin.
That's the chemical in your brain that makes you happy.
A lot of people think that I may be able to help fight depression.