Spirillum minus infection is a zoonotic bacteria caused by Spirillum minus, a Gram-negative rod (also known as Spirillum minor). It’s a kind of rat-bite fever (RBF). S. minus is more widespread in Asia than in the United States and other parts of North America, where Streptobacillus moniliformis causes most rat-bite fever cases. In Japan, the S. minus infection is known as Sodoku (so, “rat”; doku, “poison”).
S. minus is a spiral bacillus that is tightly coiled and gram-negative. Infection occurs as a result of rat bite inoculation. Up to one-fourth of rats had S. minus in their conjunctiva, blood, sputum, or nasopharynx. Unlike streptobacillary rat-bite fever, Spirillum minus infection does not occur after you consume the organism. Furthermore, infection transmission between people does not happen.