Syphilis spirochete (Treponema pallidum)

Cell type: Unicellular spiral prokaryote Division: Bacteria Kindgom: Spirochete stained, prepared slide
	Treponema as seen at 400x magnification

Treponema is the cause of syphilis, an historically important and relatively common sexually-transmitted disease.  It is an example of the bacteria known as spirochetes -- very thin and flexible, and is usually not visible with standard microscopy techniques.  These preparations have been specially stained to make the treponema visible with light microscopy.