Baron Kitasato ShibasaburoBorn 20 Dec 1852; died 13 Jun 1931 at age 78.Japanese bacteriologist who, with Alexandre Yersin, co-discovered the infectious agent of bubonic plague, Pasteurella pestis (now called Yersinia pestis), during an epidemic in Hong Kong (1894). During 1885-91, as a bacteriologist at Robert Koch's laboratory in Germany, he worked with Emil von Behring on tetanus and diphtheria, demonstrating the value of antitoxin in conferring passive immunity. They showed that nonimmune animals, injected with increasing sublethal doses of tetanus toxin, became resistant to the disease. Their milestone paper laid the basis for all future treatment with antitoxins and founded the new field of serology. In 1898, he isolated the microorganism that causes dysentery.«Name also spelled Kitazato. Date of birth: DSB gives 20 Dec 1852; Enc. Brit. gives 29 Jan 1853. |
