Brachyspira

Brachyspira is a genus of bacteria classified within the phylum Spirochaetes. Brachyspira species include pathogens in pigs, birds, dogs, and humans. B. pilosicoli colonizes millions of human worldwide leading to human intestinal spirochaetosis, a chronic intermittent watery diarrhea vastly underdiagnosed because of the lack of simple diagnostic tool for clinicians. Multiplex qPCRs are promising diagnostic tools as Brachyspira do not grow on conventional media. B. pilosicoli also cause avian spirochetosis: birds might be considered as the natural reservoir. B. hyodysenteriae leads to diarrheal disease in growing pigs worldwide, causing the so-called swine dysentery, typhlocolitis or porcine intestinal spirochaetosis, which contributes to major 'production losses' in agrobusiness. Some species like B. innocens or B. intermedia seem to be less virulent. The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), and the phylogeny is based on 16S rRNA-based LTP release 123 by 'The All-Species Living Tree' Project.