A genus of small, gram-negative bacteria that require blood factors to grow, commonly found in human respiratory passages.
From Greek 'haima' (blood) + '-philus' (loving). Named for the bacteria's requirement of blood for growth.
Haemophilus influenzae (an older spelling of hemophilus) was once the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in children before the Hib vaccine arrived in 1985—the vaccine is one of medicine's great public health victories.
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