Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 16, Number 3—March 2010
Etymologia

Etymologia: Yersinia

Cite This Article

[yər-sin¢-e-ə]

This genus of gram-negative bacteria was named after bacteriologist Alexandre-Émile-John Yersin (1863–1943). Born in Switzerland, he studied medicine in Paris and began a successful early career in the laboratory. He worked on rabies with Pierre Roux and on the tubercle bacillus under Robert Koch in Germany. He later worked at the Institut Pasteur on the toxic properties of the diphtheria bacillus and eventually signed on as a doctor on a ship headed for Saigon and Manila. In 1894, while he still worked for a French shipping company, he investigated an outbreak of plague in Hong Kong. After 7 days in a makeshift laboratory, he isolated the plague bacterium, which he called Pasteurella pestis.

Japanese bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasato had arrived in Hong Kong a few days before Yersin and also had isolated the bacterium. Kitasato published his findings in English and Japanese. Yersin published his in French. He also established a laboratory in Nha Trang, Vietnam, where he developed an antiplague serum that reduced the death rate from 90% to ≈7%. Since 1970, the organism has been called Yersinia pestis.

Sources: Burns W. Alexandre Yersin and his adventures in Vietnam. 2003; Medical Research Council National Institute for Medical Research. http://www.himr.mrc.ac.uk/millhillessays/2003/yersin/; http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/2454.html; Dorland’s illustrated medical dictionary, 31st ed. Philadelphia: Saunders Elsevier; 2007.

Top

Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid1603.e11603

Related Links

Top

Table of Contents – Volume 16, Number 3—March 2010

EID Search Options
presentation_01 Advanced Article Search – Search articles by author and/or keyword.
presentation_01 Articles by Country Search – Search articles by the topic country.
presentation_01 Article Type Search – Search articles by article type and issue.

Top

Page created: December 14, 2010
Page updated: December 14, 2010
Page reviewed: December 14, 2010
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external