English noun: rickettsia | |||
1. | rickettsia (animal) 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 | ||
Broader (hypernym) | eubacteria, eubacterium, true bacteria | ||
Member meronym | family Rickettsiaceae, Rickettsiaceae | ||