Kitasato, Shibasaburo

Kitasato, Shibasaburo (shibä'säbOOrō kē'täsä'tō) [key], 1852–1931, Japanese physician. He worked with Robert Koch in Germany (1885–91), and with Emil Behring he studied the tetanus bacillus and developed (1890) an antitoxin for diphtheria. After returning to Japan he founded an institute for the study of infectious diseases and became its director in 1891. His most noted contribution to bacteriology was the discovery (1894) of the infectious agent of bubonic plague, which he described simultaneously with Alexandre Yersin.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

• • Cite
  • Print
  • Email
  • Bookmark
    • Add bookmark
    • Add to del.icio.us
    • Digg It!
    • Add to Reddit