Haemophilus influenzae pathophysiology

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Pathophysiology

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Pathophysiology

Haemophilus influenzae serotype b
- Haemophilus influenzae, formerly called Pfeiffer's bacillus or Bacillus influenzae, is a non-motile Gram-negative coccobacillus first described in 1892 by Richard Pfeiffer during an influenza pandemic. It is generally aerobic, but can grow as a facultative anaerobe. H. influenzae was mistakenly considered to be the cause of the common flu until 1933, when the viral etiology of the flu became apparent. Still, H. influenzae is responsible for a wide range of clinical diseases.
- Because of its small genome, H. influenzae became the first free-living organism with its entire genome sequenced. Its genome consists of 1,830,140 base pairs of DNA and contains 1740 genes. The method used was Whole genome shotgun. The sequencing project, completed and published in Science in 1995, was conducted at The Institute for Genomic Research.

Direct contact with respiratory droplets from nasopharyngeal carrier or case patient