Shiga Kiyoshi

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Bronze bust of Kiyoshi Shiga in Kōtōdai Park in his native Sendai

Shiga Kiyoshi ( Japanese 志 賀 潔 ; *  February 7, 1871 ( Meiji 3/12/18) in Sendai , †  January 25, 1957 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese doctor and bacteriologist . He discovered in 1897 that was later named after him bacterium Shigella dysenteriae , the causative agent of a shigellosis designated diarrhea .

Life

Kiyoshi Shiga was born in 1871 to a samurai from the former Sendai clan and was adopted by Tasuki Shiga at the age of 16. He studied medicine from 1892 to 1896 at the University of Tokyo , where he received his doctorate in Igakushi in 1896 . During his studies he worked for the microbiologist Shibasaburo Kitasato , who later isolated the bacterium Clostridium tetani , the causative agent of tetanus . After finishing his studies, Shiga stayed at the Infectious Disease Research Institute of Tokyo University. In 1897 he discovered the pathogen of the diarrheal disease bacterial dysentery , also known as dysentery , in the intestines of people suffering from dysentery , which was initially called Bacillus dysenteriae . Independently of Kiyoshi, the German physician Walther Kruse also described the pathogen causing dysentery, and a dispute over priorities arose. Two years later, Shiga Kiyoshi became laboratory manager at the Tokyo Institute, and in 1900 he developed an antiserum against dysentery.

From 1901 to 1903 he worked in Germany with the later Nobel Prize winner Paul Ehrlich . During this time he stayed in Heidelberg with Albrecht Kossel and studied with him. After his return to Japan he worked again at the Tokyo Institute with Kitasato Shibasaburo, in 1905 he received the title Igaku Hakushi (Doctor of Medicine). In 1920 he became professor of bacteriology at the Imperial University of Keijō in Keijō . From 1929 to 1931 he was president of the university and medical advisor to the Japanese governor general for the then Japanese province of Chosen . He then returned to Tokyo, where he stayed until his death. He often withdrew to his country house near Sendai . Kiyoshi died in Tokyo in 1957 .

Scientific work

In addition to dysentery, Kiyoshi Shiga's research interests also included other bacterial infectious diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis . In addition, he dealt with the disease beriberi , which was still regarded as an infectious disease at the beginning of the 20th century , for which the Dutch hygienist Christiaan Eijkman later recognized a vitamin deficiency as the cause. His publications, which included a two-volume work on clinical bacteriology, had a major impact on medical research and teaching in his home country.

Appreciation and memory

In honor of Kiyoshi Shiga, the dysentery pathogen he discovered was later named Shigella dysenteriae , and the associated bacterial genus Shigella and the Shiga toxins produced by these bacteria were named after him. The diarrheal disease caused by Shigella is accordingly also referred to as Shigellosis . The Japanese Society for Chemotherapy awards an annual prize named after Kiyoshi Shiga and Sahachiro Hata . In 1927 Kiyoshi Shiga was accepted into the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina . He was also awarded the Japanese Order of Culture in 1944 and the Order of the Sacred Treasure posthumously in 1957 .

literature

  • Shiga Kiyoshi . In: Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite . Encyclopædia Britannica, Chicago 2008.
  • Wolfgang U. Eckart : Shiga, Kiyoshi. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1326 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Michael Hubenstorf: Kiyoshi Shiga , in: Wolfgang U. Eckart and Christoph Gradmann (eds.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the 20th century , 1st edition 1995 CH Beck Munich pp. 332 + 333, medical dictionary. From antiquity to the present , 2nd edition 2001, p. 290, 3rd edition 2006 Springer Verlag Heidelberg, Berlin, New York p. 302. doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 .
  2. ↑ Member entry of Kiyoshi Shiga at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on July 17, 2017.
Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Shiga is the family name, Kiyoshi the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Shiga, Kiyoshi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 志 賀 潔 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese bacteriologist and discoverer of the Shigella dysenteriae bacterium
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Sendai
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1957
Place of death Tokyo