Overview
- Causes tularaemia in animals and humans
- Wildlife reservoir of infection
- Survives in the soil for up to 4 months
Characteristics
- Gram negative rod with coccobacillary appearance
- Non-moltile, obligate aerobe
- Oxidase negative, weakly catalase positive
- Fastidious, requiring cysteine for growth on blood agar
- No growth on MacConkey
- Facultative intracellular pathogen