— spirochetal, spirochetic , adj.
/spuy"reuh keet'/ , n.
any of various spiral-shaped motile bacteria of the family Spirochaetaceae, certain species, as Treponema, Leptospira, and Borrelia, being pathogenic to humans and other animals, and other species being free-living, saprophytic, or parasitic.
Also, spirochaete .
[ 1875-80; spirochaeta. See SPIRO- 2 , CHAETA- ]