Pasteurella, genus of rod-shaped bacteria that causes several serious diseases in domestic animals and milder infections in humans. The genus was named after Louis Pasteur. Its species are microbiologically characterized as gram-negative, nonmotile, facultative anaerobes (not requiring oxygen) that have a fermentative type of metabolism. They are 0.3 to 1 μm (micrometre; 1 μm = 10-6 m) across by 1–2 μm long. The infections they cause, referred to by the general term pasteurelloses, are widespread, being transmitted by direct contact and, in some cases, by certain species of ticks and fleas. The genus is closely related to the genera Haemophilus and Actinobacillus, and together the three genera form the family Pasteurellaceae.
Pasteurella multocida is pathogenic for many animals, causing fowl cholera, blood poisoning in ruminants, pneumonia in young cattle, and respiratory infection in cattle and humans. It is also the cause of shipping fever, which commonly attacks animals under stress, as during shipping. In this disease, fever is followed by respiratory difficulty, which may lead to pneumonia and more severe symptoms. Treatment includes isolation, rest, and antibiotic therapy. P. haemolytica is a cause of sheep pneumonia. P. multocida and P. dagmatis are also often found in the mouths of healthy cats and dogs and can cause infection in bite wounds of those animals.
The agents of tularemia and bubonic plague, previously designated P. tularensis and P. pestis, respectively, have been reclassified as Francisella tularensis and Yersinia pestis.
Control by vaccine is variable, as is treatment with penicillin and other antibiotics, such as tetracycline.