Pasteurella /pas′tərel″ə/ [Louis Pasteur] , a genus of gram-negative bacilli or coccobacilli, including species pathogenic to humans and domestic animals. Pasteurella infections may be transmitted to humans by animal bites or scratches. The plague bacillus, Pasteurella pestis, is now called Yersinia pestis; P. tularensis, which causes tularemia, has been reclassified as Francisella tularensis.
