Pasteurellaceae

Pasteurellaceae form a family of Proteobacteria and are the only member of the order Pasteurellales. Pasteurellaceae are Gram-negative, rod or coccoid, immotile bacteria that differ from Enterobacteriaceae in the presence of oxidase and from most similar bacteria in the absence of flagella.

Some species are pleomorphic and change their cell shape over time; in older cultures, the formation of filaments (cell filaments) can often be observed.

The family consists of numerous genera, some of which are of particular humapathological importance:

• Actinobacillus (Brumpt 1910; Actinobacillus is a frequent concomitant germ in actinomycoses, but is also often found in wound infections, bacteraemias, animal bite wounds and endocarditis. The lethality rate of 30 % is relatively high in infections that occur mainly in immunocompromised individuals.)
• Haemophilus (Winslow et al. 1917; causes inflammatory diseases in the lower respiratory tract: sinusitis, epiglottitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, but also otitis, endocarditis and osteomyelitis)
• Pasteurella (Trevisan 1887; infections of animal bite wounds)