Species ***Clostridium* *tetani***

Name: Clostridium tetani (Flügge 1886) Bergey et al. 1923 (Approved Lists 1980)

Category: Species

Proposed as: comb. nov.

Basonym: "Bacillus tetani" Flügge 1886

Etymology: te’ta.ni. L. masc. n. tetanus, tension, tetanus; from Gr. masc. n. tetanos; L. gen. masc. n. tetani, of tetanus

Pronunciation, gender: TE-ta-ni, neuter

Type strain: ATCC 19406; CCUG 4220; NCTC 279

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: X74770 Analyse FASTA

Effective publication: Bergey DH, Harrison FC, Breed RS, Hammer BW, Huntoon FM. Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, 1st ed. The Williams & Wilkins Co, Baltimore, 1923.

IJSEM list: Skerman VBD, McGowan V, Sneath PHA. Approved lists of bacterial names. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1980; 30:225-420.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

Taxonomic status: correct name (and explicitly recommended for medical use)

Risk group: 2

Synonyms:

Name	Kind
"Bacillus tetani" Flügge 1886	homotypic synonym, not validly published, basonym of name in Approved Lists

Notes:
- 🧬 The phylogenomic assignment score of this taxon is -0.05968 (N = 24).
- 😷 The risk group for Belgium has been imported on 2024-02-05. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "human and animal pathogen - human: T - biological class of risk animal: 2". — The risk group for Canada has been imported on 2024-02-27. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "Animal classification RG: 2 - Security sensitive biological agent: No - Terrestrial animal pathogen under Canadian Food Inspection Agency authority: No - Containment level: Containment Level 2". — The risk group for Swiss Confederation has been imported on 2024-02-01. The full classification is: risk group = 2. — The risk group for Germany has been imported on 2023-10-29. The full classification is: risk group = 2. — The risk group for France has been imported on 2024-08-30. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "T, V". — The risk group for Sweden has been imported on 2024-02-05. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "T, V". — The risk group for Taiwan has been imported on 2024-11-03. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "P650 = v". — The risk group for United Kingdom has been imported on 2024-01-31. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "Toxigenic - Vaccine available". — The risk group for United States has been imported on 2024-02-09. The full classification is: risk group = 2. — If in doubt, use the risk group given in the regulations for your country and, if these are not available, use the risk group given in the catalogue of the culture collection from which you have obtained or intend to obtain the strain.
- 🎓 Name mentioned 741 times in PubMed until 2025-06-04.
- 🙆 This name is on the List of Recommended Names for bacteria of medical importance (LoRN) as the name to be applied to this species. The name is on LoRN because of the recorded risk group of the species itself.
- 🧍 According to Bartlett et al. (2022), this species is an established human pathogen. Publication: Bartlett A, Padfield D, Lear L, Bendall R, Vos M. A comprehensive list of bacterial pathogens infecting humans. Microbiology (Reading) 2022; 168:0. 🇬🇧

Parent taxon: Clostridium Prazmowski 1880 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: Bergey DH, Harrison FC, Breed RS, Hammer BW, Huntoon FM. Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, 1st ed. The Williams & Wilkins Co, Baltimore, 1923.

Linking: To permanently link to this page, use https://lpsn.dsmz.de/species/clostridium-tetaniLink copied to clipboard

Record number: 774999

This LPSN page was printed on 2026-01-13 08:14:07

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Species Clostridium tetani

Species ***Clostridium* *tetani***