bacilli

noun bacilli

• pathogens — any disease-producing agent, especially a virus, bacterium, or other microorganism.
• germs — a microorganism, especially when disease-producing; microbe.
• microorganisms — any organism too small to be viewed by the unaided eye, as bacteria, protozoa, and some fungi and algae.
• microbe — a microorganism, especially a pathogenic bacterium.
• virus — an ultramicroscopic (20 to 300 nm in diameter), metabolically inert, infectious agent that replicates only within the cells of living hosts, mainly bacteria, plants, and animals: composed of an RNA or DNA core, a protein coat, and, in more complex types, a surrounding envelope.