Name: Fusobacterium varium (Eggerth and Gagnon 1933) Moore and Holdeman 1969 (Approved Lists 1980)

Category: Species

Proposed as: comb. nov.

Basonym: "Bacteroides varius" Eggerth and Gagnon 1933

Etymology: va’ri.um. L. neut. adj. varium, diverse, different

Pronunciation (Latin), gender: … WA-ri-um, neuter

Type strain: ATCC 8501; CCUG 4858; DSM 19868; NCTC 10560

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: AB640694 Analyse FASTA

Effective publication: Moore WEC, Holdeman LV. Anaerobic gram-negative non-sporeforming rods. In: Cato EP, Cummins CS, Holdeman LV, Johnson JL, Moore WEC, Smibert RM, Smith LDS (eds), Outline of Clinical Methods in Anaerobic Bacteriology, 1st revision, Virginia Polytechnic Institute - Anaerobe Laboratory, Blacksburg/Virginia, 1969, p. 1-107.

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
    Fusobacterium pseudonecrophorum (ex Prévot 1940) Shinjo et al. 1990	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP
    "Bacteroides varius" Eggerth and Gagnon 1933	homotypic synonym, not validly published, basonym of name in Approved Lists

• Notes:
  • ⏰ According to Bailey and Love (1993), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Fusobacterium pseudonecrophorum (ex Prévot 1940) Shinjo et al. 1990. Publication: Bailey GD, Love DN. Fusobacterium pseudonecrophorum is a synonym for Fusobacterium varium. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1993; 43:819-821. 🇦🇺
  • 😷 The risk group for Belgium has been imported on 2024-02-05. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "human pathogen". — The risk group for Canada has been imported on 2024-02-27. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "Animal classification RG: 1 - 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, note = "ht". — 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 125 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: Fusobacterium Knorr 1922 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: Moore WEC, Holdeman LV. Anaerobic gram-negative non-sporeforming rods. In: Cato EP, Cummins CS, Holdeman LV, Johnson JL, Moore WEC, Smibert RM, Smith LDS (eds), Outline of Clinical Methods in Anaerobic Bacteriology, 1st revision, Virginia Polytechnic Institute - Anaerobe Laboratory, Blacksburg/Virginia, 1969, p. 1-107.

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Record number: 783893