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BordetellaRANK: GenusTAXONOMY: cellular organisms -> Bacteria -> Proteobacteria -> Betaproteobacteria -> Burkholderiales -> Alcaligenaceae -> Bordetella OVERVIEW: Bordetella is a genus of small (0.2 - 0.7 µm), Gram-negative coccobacilli of the phylum Proteobacteria. Bordetella species, with the exception of B. petrii, are obligate aerobes, as well as highly fastidious, or difficult to culture. Three species are human pathogens (B. pertussis, B. parapertussis, B. bronchiseptica); one of these (B. bronchiseptica) is also motile. B. pertussis and occasionally B. parapertussis cause pertussis or whooping cough in humans, and some B. parapertussis strains can colonise sheep. B. bronchiseptica rarely infects healthy humans, though disease in immunocompromised patients has been reported. B. bronchiseptica causes several diseases in other mammals, including kennel cough and atrophic rhinitis in dogs and pigs, respectively. Other members of the genus cause similar diseases in other mammals, and in birds (B. hinzii, B. avium).The most thoroughly studied of the Bordetella species are B. bronchiseptica, B. pertussis and B. parapertussis, and the pathogenesis of respiratory disease caused by these bacteria has been reviewed. Transmission occurs by direct contact, or via respiratory aerosol droplets, or fomites. Bacteria initially adhere to ciliated epithelial cells in the nasopharynx, and this interaction with epithelial cells is mediated by a series of protein adhesins. These include filamentous haemaglutinin, pertactin, fimbriae, and pertussis toxin (though expression of pertussis toxin is unique to B. pertussis). As well as assisting in adherence to epithelial cells, some of these are also involved in attachment to immune effector cells. This genus contains microbial species that can reside in the human gastrointestinal tract. [PMC 4262072]
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