VIBRIO

(genus Vibrio), any of a group of comma-shaped bacteria in the family Vibrionaceae. Vibrios are aquatic microorganisms, some species of which cause serious diseases in humans and other animals. Vibrios are microbiologically characterized as gram-negative, highly motile, facultative anaerobes (not requiring oxygen), with one to three whiplike flagella at one end. Their cells are curved rods 0.5 mm (micrometre; 1 mm = 10-6 metre) across and 1.5 to 3.0 mm long, single or strung together in S-shapes or spirals. Two species of vibrio are of significance to humans: V. cholerae, which is the cause of cholera, and V. parahaemolyticus, the agent of an acute enteritis, or bacterial diarrhea. V. anguillarum is found in diseased eels and other fishes.