(redirected from nonhaemotrophic mollicutes)
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(mol″ĭ′kūt-ēz) [L. mollis, soft + cutis, skin]
A class of very small bacteria, some of which have cell walls and others of which have no cell walls but are surrounded instead by a cell membrane. It includes several genera that cause human diseases, including Erysipelothrix (a gram-positive rod shaped bacterium that has a cell wall), Mycoplasma, and Ureaplasma.


members of the order Mycoplasmatales, class Mollicutes. Genera of veterinary importance are Acholeplasma, Mycoplasma, and Ureaplasma.

haemophilic mollicutes
include organisms previously included in the genera Haemobartonella and Eperythrozoon; usually cause haemolytic anemia in a wide range of animal species.
nonhaemotrophic mollicutes
include members of the genus Ureaplasma and some members of the genus Mycoplasma not associated with red blood cells. Most have a high degree of host specificity and infect a wide range of animal species causing subclinical to severe infections of the respiratory and urogenital tracts, arthritis, septicemia and mastitis.