- rickettsia
- rickettsia parasitic organism, 1919, named 1916 in Mod.L. by H. da Rocha-Lima in honor of U.S. pathologist H.T. Ricketts (1871-1910), who first identified it in 1909 and died of typhus as a result of his contact with it. The bacteria causes typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but is unrelated by pathology or etymology to RICKETS (Cf. rickets) (q.v.), which is the result of vitamin D deficiency.
Etymology dictionary. 2014.