Finally, there’s a way to keep syphilis growing in the lab

Author: Leah Rosenbaum / Source: Science News

For more than a century, scientists have tried to grow Treponema pallidum, the corkscrew-shaped bacterium that causes syphilis.

But the stubborn spirochete has refused to thrive any place outside of a human or rabbit for more than 18 days. That doesn’t give researchers much time to study it.

“I’ve basically spent my entire career watching these organisms die,” says microbiologist Steven Norris, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Until now. Norris and colleagues have cooked up a new recipe that keeps the bacteria alive for months, they report June 26 in mBio.

“We know very little about the organism,” Norris says….

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