Yersin, Alexandre Émile Jean

Yersin, Alexandre Émile Jean (äleksäN'dru āmēl' zhän yersăN') [key], 1863–1943, French bacteriologist, of Swiss descent. He studied with Pasteur and worked on diphtheria antitoxin with P. P. E. Roux at the Pasteur Institute, Paris. Yersin discovered (1894) the bacillus of bubonic plague (independently of Shibasaburo Kitasato) and prepared a serum to combat the disease. He was director of the Pasteur Institute at Nhatrang (SE Annam) and inspector general of the Pasteur Institutes at Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), at Hanoi, and at Dalat (S of Nhatrang).

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

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