rickettsia

[ ri-ket-see-uh ]
/ rɪˈkɛt si ə /

noun, plural rick·ett·si·ae [ri-ket-see-ee] /rɪˈkɛt siˌi/, rick·ett·si·as [ri-ket-see-uh z] /rɪˈkɛt si əz/.

any member of the genus Rickettsia, comprising rod-shaped to coccoid microorganisms that resemble bacteria but can be as small as a large virus and reproduce only inside a living cell, parasitic in fleas, ticks, lice, and mites and transmitted by bite to vertebrate hosts, including humans, causing such severe diseases as typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
any rickettsia or rickettsialike microorganism of the orders Rickettsiales and Chlamydiales.

Origin of rickettsia

1915–20; < New Latin, after Howard T. Ricketts (1871–1910), U.S. pathologist; see -ia

OTHER WORDS FROM rickettsia

rick·ett·si·al, adjective

Words nearby rickettsia

rick, rickenbacker, ricker, rickets, ricketts, rickettsia, rickettsia akari, rickettsia australis, rickettsia conorii, rickettsia prowazekii, rickettsia rickettsii

British Dictionary definitions for rickettsia

rickettsia
/ (rɪˈkɛtsɪə) /

noun plural -siae (-sɪˌiː) or -sias

any of a group of parasitic bacteria that live in the tissues of ticks, mites, and other arthropods, and cause disease when transmitted to man and other animals

Derived forms of rickettsia

rickettsial, adjective

Word Origin for rickettsia

C20: named after Howard T. Ricketts (1871–1910), US pathologist

Medical definitions for rickettsia

Rickettsia
[ rĭ-kĕt′sē-ə ]

n.

A genus of gram-negative bacteria that are carried as parasites by many ticks, fleas, and lice and cause diseases such as typhus, scrub typhus, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.