Spiral bacteria include the small gastrointestinal pathogen
Helicobacterthat colonizes the stomach, leading to gastric and
duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer, and Campylobacterspp. that
cause acute diarrhoea (see Chapter 27). The Borrelia give rise to
relapsing fever (B. duttoni and B. recurrentis) and to a chronic
disease of the skin joints and central nervous system, Lyme
disease (B. burgdorferi). The Leptospira are zoonotic agents
causing an acute meningitis syndrome that may be accompanied
by renal failure and hepatitis. The Treponema include the
causative agent of syphilis (T. pallidum).