1852-1931. Japanese bacteriologist who
discovered the plague bacillus while
investigating an outbreak of plague in Hong
Kong. Kitasato was the first to grow the
tetanus bacillus in pure culture. He and the
German bacteriologist Behring discovered that
increasing nonlethal doses of tetanus toxin
give immunity to the disease. He founded the
Tokyo Institute for Infectious Diseases 1914,
and was a friend and one-time student of
Robert Koch.