Noun
A microscopic vegetable organism, belonging to the class Algae, usually in the form of a jointed rodlike filament, and found in putrefying organic infusions. Bacteria are destitute of chlorophyll, and are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are very widely diffused in nature, and multiply with marvelous rapidity, both by fission and by spores. Certain species are active agents in fermentation, while others appear to be the cause of certain infectious diseases. See Bacillus.
Source: Webster's dictionaryI wish, I wish I were a poisonous bacterium. Dorothy Parker
[The smallest bacterium] is so much more like people than Stanley Miller's mixtures of chemicals, because it already has these system properties. So to go from a bacterium to people is less of a step than to go from a mixture of amino acids to that bacterium. Lynn Margulis
A child bitten by a flea infected with the Yersinia pestis bacterium. Source: Internet
A fimbria is a short pilus that is used to attach the bacterium to a surface. Source: Internet
As soon as infants begin eating solid food, the digestive juices become too acidic for the bacterium to grow. Source: Internet
After the bacterium invades the gastrointestinal system, it spreads to the bloodstream and throughout the body, while continuing to make toxins. Source: Internet