{{Short description|Species of bacterium}} {{Speciesbox | image = | genus = Mycoplasma | species = faucium | authority = Freundt ''et al.'' 1974 (Approved Lists 1980) }}

'''''Mycoplasma faucium ''''' is a species of bacteria in the genus '''''Mycoplasma'''''. This genus of bacteria lacks a cell wall around their cell membrane.<ref name=Sherris>{{cite book | author = Ryan KJ, Ray CG (editors) | title = Sherris Medical Microbiology | pages=409–12 |edition = 4th | publisher = McGraw Hill | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-8385-8529-9}}</ref> Without a cell wall, they are unaffected by many common antibiotics such as penicillin or other beta-lactam antibiotics that target cell wall synthesis. Mycoplasma are the smallest bacterial cells yet discovered,<ref>{{cite book|title=Infectious Diseases of the Female Genital Tract |url=https://archive.org/details/infectiousdiseas00swee_0 |url-access=registration | publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009| author = Richard L. Sweet, Ronald S. Gibbs}}</ref> can survive without oxygen and are typically about 0.1&nbsp;μm in diameter.

It was first described in 1974 and has been considered a rare inhabitant of humans.<ref name="FreundtTaylor-Robinson1974">{{cite journal|last1=Freundt|first1=E. A.|last2=Taylor-Robinson|first2=D.|last3=Purcell|first3=R. H.|last4=Chanock|first4=R. M.|last5=Black|first5=F. T.|title=Proposal of Mycoplasma buccale nom. nov. and Mycoplasma faucium nom. nov. for Mycoplasma orale "Types" 2 and 3, Respectively|journal=International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology|volume=24|issue=2|year=1974|pages=252–255|issn=0020-7713|doi=10.1099/00207713-24-2-252|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="RawadiDujeancourt-Henry1998">{{cite journal|last1=Rawadi|first1=G.|last2=Dujeancourt-Henry|first2=A.|last3=Lemercier|first3=B.|last4=Roulland-Dussoix|first4=D.|title=Note: Phylogenetic position of rare human mycoplasmas, Mycoplasma faucium, M. buccale, M. primatum and M. spermatophilum, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences|journal=International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology|volume=48|issue=1|year=1998|pages=305–309|issn=0020-7713|doi=10.1099/00207713-48-1-305|pmid=9542101 |doi-access=free}}</ref> It is considered to usually be a commensal and is a rare bacteria of the normal microbiota of the human oropharynx; it is sometimes cultured from oropharynx of nonhuman primates.<ref name="RawadiDujeancourt-Henry1998"/><ref>{{cite web | title = Mycoplasma faucium |publisher= Medical Dictionary | url = http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Mycoplasma+faucium | accessdate = 2015-04-20 }}</ref> However, recent reports have proposed that in common with ''Mycoplasma hominis'', ''M. faucium'' may be a pathogen in some brain abscesses.<ref>{{Cite journal|pmid=19335164|year=2009|last1=Al Masalma|first1=M|title=The expansion of the microbiological spectrum of brain abscesses with use of multiple 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing|journal=Clinical Infectious Diseases|volume=48|issue=9|pages=1169–78|last2=Armougom|first2=F|last3=Scheld|first3=W. M.|last4=Dufour|first4=H|last5=Roche|first5=P. H.|last6=Drancourt|first6=M|last7=Raoult|first7=D|doi=10.1086/597578|doi-access=}}</ref>

The type strain is strain ATCC 25293 = NCTC 10174.<ref name=Parte>{{cite web | title = Mycoplasma |publisher=LPSN, LPSN| url = https://lpsn.dsmz.de/genus/mycoplasma | accessdate = 2015-04-20 | first = A. C. | last = Parte }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

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Category:Bacteria described in 1974 faucium

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