Alexandre Yersin, Swiss Bacteriologist


Yersin in front of the National Quarantine Station, Shanghai, China 1936. This was the laboratory building where he first isolated and described in detail, Pasteurella pestis, the old term used for Yersinia pestis. Alexandre Emile Jean Yersin (September 22, 1863 - March 1, 1943) was a Swiss and naturalized French physician and bacteriologist. He is remembered as the discoverer of the bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague or pest, which was later named in his honor (Yersinia pestis). From 1895 to 1897, he further pursued his studies on the bubonic plague. In 1895 he returned to the Institute Pasteur in Paris and with Ìämile Roux, Albert Calmette and AmÌ©dÌ©e Borrel, prepared the first anti-plague serum. In the same year, he returned to Indochina, where he installed a small laboratory at Nha Trang, in order to manufacture the serum. In 1934 he was nominated honorary director of Pasteur Institute and a member of its Board of Administration. He died during World War II at his home in Nha Trang, in 1943. He is well remembered in Vietnam, where he was affectionately called Ong Nam (Mr. Nam/Fifth) by the people. Following the country's independence, streets named in his honor kept their designation, and his tomb in Suoi Dau was graced by a pagoda where rites are performed in his worship.


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