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Noun: rickettsia (rickettsiae,rickettsias)
  1. Any of a group of very small rod-shaped bacteria that live in biting arthropods (as ticks and mites) and cause disease in vertebrate hosts; they cause typhus and other febrile diseases in human beings

Derived forms: rickettsias, rickettsiae

See also: rickettsial

Type of: eubacteria, eubacterium, true bacteria

Part of: family Rickettsiaceae, Rickettsiaceae

Encyclopedia: Rickettsia