Plague bacillus (Yersinia pestis)
Bacilo de la peste (Yersinia pestis)
- Date
- 1894 · confidence high
- Place
- Hong Kong, China
- Credited to
- Alexandre Yersin and Kitasato Shibasaburō
- People
- 👤 Alexandre Yersin1863–1943👤 Kitasato Shibasaburō1853–1931
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
During the Hong Kong epidemic, Kitasato and Yersin identified, almost simultaneously, the bacterium that causes plague. Yersin's description was the more accurate, and the bacterium bears his name.
Kitasato's culture may have been contaminated with pneumococci, so priority is now credited mainly to Yersin.
What it led to
- identification of the rat and flea as vectors (Simond, 1898)
- serum and vaccines against plague