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How Tularemia Is A Disease Caused By The Bacterium Francisella Tularensis

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Francisella tularensis Imagine waking up one morning with inflamed eyes, a sore throat and severe headaches. Within a few days time you start having trouble breathing and develop pneumonia. With no idea of what’s wrong and no treatment in sight, you may die anywhere within a 5-14 day range (10). At the dawn of the 20th century, this type of scenario was not uncommon. By the early 1950’s the condition plagued thousands of people each year. It wasn 't until 1959 when the condition actually had a name...tularemia (16).
Tularemia is a disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. F. tularensis is a microorganism belonging to the Domain Bacteria, Phylum Proteobacteria, Class Gammaproteobacteria, Order Thiotrichales, Family Francisellaceae, Genus Francisella and species tularensis. This microorganism is considered to be in the Domain Bacteria rather than in the Domain Archaea for a few reasons. Not only does F. tularensis not have a nucleus, but it is also unicellular and contains a single circular dsDNA. The plasma membrane is also composed of a series of unbranched fatty acids that are connected to glycerol molecules via ester linkages, all characteristic of Domain Bacteria (5).
Characteristics of F. tularensis’ next taxonomic rank, as part of the Phylum Proteobacteria, characterize it as a Gram-negative bacterium. When gram-stained, this microorganism appears as a reddish color under the microscope. This is mainly because Gram-negative bacteria have an inner

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