Spirochaetal and Leptospiral Diseases

Spirochaetes are an important group of bacteria that cause a number of diseases in man. The major pathogenic organisms are Treponema, Leptospira and Borrelia, and they contain both DNA and RNA and are susceptible to the bactericidal action of antibiotics. Of the spirochaetal diseases, syphilis is of world-wide distribution, but the non-venereal treponematoses of yaws, endemic syphilis and pinta, and leptospirosis are predominantly of tropical distribution.