Haemophilus influenzae | |
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H. influenzae on a chocolate agar plate | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Bacteria |
Phylum: | Pseudomonadota |
Class: | Gammaproteobacteria |
Order: | Pasteurellales |
Family: | Pasteurellaceae |
Genus: | Haemophilus |
Species: | H. influenzae
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Binomial name | |
Haemophilus influenzae (Lehmann & Neumann 1896)
Winslow et al. 1917 |
Haemophilus influenzae (formerly called Pfeiffer's bacillus or Bacillus influenzae) is a Gram-negative, non-motile, coccobacillary, facultatively anaerobic, capnophilic pathogenic bacterium of the family Pasteurellaceae. The bacteria are mesophilic and grow best at temperatures between 35 and 37 °C.[1]
H. influenzae was first described in 1893[2][3] by Richard Pfeiffer during an influenza pandemic[4] when he incorrectly identified it as the causative microbe, which is why the bacteria was given the name "influenzae".[5][6] H. influenzae is responsible for a wide range of localized and invasive infections, typically in infants and children,[7] including pneumonia, meningitis, or bloodstream infections.[8] Treatment consists of antibiotics; however, H. influenzae is often resistant to the penicillin family, but amoxicillin/clavulanic acid can be used in mild cases.[9] Serotype B H. influenzae have been a major cause of meningitis in infants and small children, frequently causing deafness and mental retardation. However the development in the 1980s of a vaccine effective in this age group (the Hib vaccine) has almost eliminated this in developed countries.
This species was the first organism to have its entire genome sequenced.[10][11]